Serious
by Zerbinetta
Summary: When Misa gets dumped by Light because he wants someone "serious" to pursue a law career at To-Oh, the perky model decides to swap her Lolita outfits for law books and prove to her love that she is more than serious enough. DN/Legally Blonde, 2011-rewrite
1. Legally Dumped

This was a random idea that popped into my mind. I wanted to do a humor fic and I though "hey, why not cross Legally Blonde with Death Note?" Misa looks the part and certainly has a few things in common with Elle, at least the Elle at the start of the movie. I'm guessing at about ten chapters and since this is a brief infatuation with the idea kind of fic, I expect quick updates. Quicker, if the reviews come to me!

_**Edit: **__currently under the process of being rewritten._

**o.O.o**

**Legally Dumped**

**o.O.o**

If there ever was a girl more fortunate than Amane Misa, then neither she nor her friends from the modeling agency knew of her. At nineteen, the blonde idol had it all; fame, fortune, killer looks and an amazing boyfriend. And, according to her friends, the last on that list would be changing very soon.

For the better, of course.

"I still can't believe you guys are getting engaged!" Hiyori, a perky twenty-one year old friend of Misa's chirped. She and Satsuki were only starting up; in the case of the latter, she wasn't even a model yet, but she was trying her best. Misa, the national sweetheart, was finally getting hitched!

The blonde hung her pigtailed head slightly, flaxen strands falling into her face in an image of complete innocence.

"It might not be tonight…" she said evasively. But she was as excited as the rest of them; at long last, her boyfriend, who she loved more than life itself, was going to propose to her.

Hopefully.

"Oh, come _on_!" Satsuki cried, giving her a sharp pat on the back, making the blonde straighten up against her will. "Having dinner with his whole family? A talk with his dad? Girl, unless someone died, this has to be _the _proposal talk and thus _the_ night!

"I guess you guys are right…" Misa smiled brilliantly, thankful for the encouragement. "Misa sure hopes you are!"

Yagami Light, perfect as far as boyfriends went, had been the best choice in her life as far as she was concerned. They had met accidentally on the day of the trial against her parents´ murderer and it had been love at first sight, at least for her. That was two years ago – it was just about time; not too soon or too late. And Light was perfect, even with timing.

"Don't worry a second!" Hiyori couldn't even fathom why Misa would be nervous. Any man in Japan would give all four limbs to have a chance with her. "I mean, what guy wouldn't love Misa-Misa, right?"

"So, what are you gonna wear tonight?" Satsuki asked eagerly, pouncing on the couch. Misa's Tokyo apartment was stylish but still not too large, making it all the cozier. "Gothic Lolita as usual?"

Even now, Misa was dressed in her signature style; a tank top and ballerina skirt, all set to perfectly compliment her pale skin and sparkling eyes. But her two blonde pigtails shook fervently at once at such a suggestion.

"No, no, Misa can't wear something like that on such a special night! Besides, we're going to a really classy restaurant… I just…" When she bit her lip, it seemed like she was posing for a fashion shot. "Well, I want Light to feel comfortable with me there! Save the trendy outfits for private occasions, you know."

Both girls squealed, getting the idea immediately, though Misa wasn't being entirely serious yet. They hadn't actually gotten that far; Light was far too gentlemanly any proper for that.

"We understand completely, Misa-chan! " Satsuki squealed, but then turned serious in a flash. Fashion was their forte, but Misa was obviously being indecisive at the moment. "Just remember, too much cleavage and he might not get the words out, but too little and he might hesitate."

"Yeah and don't pick an outfit that makes you look younger! Won't be a good bet in this case, you want to look mature." Hiyori added, flipping through the nearest fashion magazine. "And you know how he is."

Misa thought about it just for a moment. She had an outfit in mind designed specifically for more formal occasions on which it would be somewhat inappropriate to be fully Misa-Misa. "Misa actually thought she'd wear that pink dress she wore at my sister's wedding, remember?"

Her friends had seen photos of the rosy silk and satin miracle, so they needed only a moment to envision Misa in a mind's eye in a fancy restaurant, the kneeling figure of Light in front of her. It was the perfect image, the ideal fairytale that every girl dreamed of.

"Ooh, totally go with that! Pink is one of your best colors and that dress doesn't look too girly!"

Satsuki looked puzzled. "What's wrong with a girly dress?"

"Shut up, Satsuki!" Hiyori rolled her eyes, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. "It would make it seem she's expecting it!"

"Light would likely be proud of Misa if she figured it out in advance." Misa speculated out loud.

Light took after his father completely when it came to career ideas and wanted to be chief of police one day just like Yagami-san. It would likely impress him if she deduced this on the spot, but it could be a blow to his pride as well.

The dilemma.

"Anyway, you might wanna keep your hair down completely tonight. You know, look more mature." Hiyori winked, pointedly pulling her shirt down a bit to reveal more of her rather unimpressive cleavage.

Misa nodded, beaming. "Uh-huh, okay, Hiyori-chan! Okay, Misa has to go get ready, but she will meet you tomorrow, okay!"

The girls stood up and grabbed their jackets, ready to head out into town and crossing their fingers for Misa. Like she needed it – there was no chance of anything going wrong. No chance at all.

"Sure!"

"Remember to show us the ring!"

The door closed and Misa collapsed on the sofa, feeling utterly content. The name Yagami Misa repeated itself over and over in her mind. She was going to be the perfect wife, even if it meant giving up her career for Light; she would do it. _Anything_ for the love of her life. And tonight, her dream of the past two years would finally come true.

If there was any girl happier than Amane Misa, she had to be Barbie.

**o.O.o**

If a girl had a boyfriend like Yagami Light, she had a right to be proud.

The eighteen soon-to-be nineteen year old high school graduate was not only the highest-scoring student in the whole country; he was also among one of the most handsome ones. Ironically, his was a classy elegance that didn't require daily maintenance as it was with most people. Misa actually speculated that he would look great even with a bad case of bed hair, in an adorable kind of way.

Fortunately, he was also a very snappy dresser, especially when dressed in a suit. The more time they spent together that night, the more Misa was convinced that her friends were right; they were in an expensive restaurant, both dressed their best and he seemed to be in a good if slightly nervous mood. He had even said that he liked her dress. It could only mean one thing.

"Now, Misa, I suppose you already know why I brought you here." Light noted in his usual serious tones once they had finished the main course. He was very tactful, waiting for her to finish putting down her fork before even speaking up.

The model blushed crimson. It sounded like a compliment to her ears. "Well… Misa guessed. You know… the restaurant and everything." she said sheepishly. But she was pleased as well that he had brought it up first; that meant he wouldn't be nervous later on. And it showed his great deduction skills.

"Yes. Well…I don't suppose there's much point in beating around the bush." Light noted, putting his hands on the table, fingers entwining in a business-like fashion. "We have known each other for quite a while, haven't we? You know that I have my future relatively planned out for myself."

_Relatively_ – understatement of the century. Light knew what kind of socks he wanted to wear for the birth of his grandchildren.

"Mm-hm. You want to succeed your dad, which you know Misa fully supports." Misa recited with an excited nod. She prided herself in knowing everything there was to know about Light; she had an excellent memory for small details, not only when it came to fashion.

"Exactly." Light nodded, looking at her seriously. "You know that's something which involves a lot of responsibility."

Misa was handling this surprisingly well, if he was any judge; she was smiling, which was good, but he didn't think there was a high percentage of her actually understanding the full impact of what he was saying. But who was he to know what went on in her airy head?

"Sure! Models have to know responsibility; otherwise we'd miss our photo shoots." Misa explained wisely. "Misa has a tight schedule too."

It was no picnic, being a model nowadays. She didn't even need to exercise that much, because running around all day burned most calories away anyhow.

No, she had _no_ idea what he was saying, Light concluded. Still, this had to be done, better sooner than later.

"Quite. I was also thinking about your place in that future."

"That's so sweet of you, Light!" This was the night, then; he _was_ going to say it! Misa tried her best not to search for the box with the ring.

"To break it down to you, Misa, it's time for me to be completely serious about this." Light said, his tone softening slightly. I'm going to To-Oh to start studying law in a few weeks' time and I want to make a good overall impression, not only with grades, but as a person as well."

His acting was also a perfected part of his repertoire, something he frequently employed nowadays. He knew Misa well enough to be wary of her reaction and thus tried to soften the blow.

"You don't have to worry about your grades, Light; you're the smartest person Misa knows." In his opinion, that wasn't saying much, but it was obviously a compliment from her.

"Nevertheless, I believe that this significant change means that you and I should-"

"Yes!" Misa couldn't stop herself from crying out.

"…break up. I know you understand me." Light finished curtly, putting on an apologetic face.

The jubilant Misa wasn't listening at all – it took several seconds for the words to sink in.

"Of course I will- what?" she shrieked, jumping up and almost knocking her chair over. Embarrassed, she lowered herself back into it, staring at her boyfriend in utter astonishment.

"Misa, please." Light said quietly, looking around to see if this was causing a commotion. Some people seemed to have recognized Misa, but other than that, everything was normal.

"Y-you're… you're b-b-breaking up with-with Misa?" she spluttered, disbelieving. Her mascara was more than ready to run, but Misa couldn't bring herself to care.

She hadn't had too many boyfriends yet – not nearly enough time or guys she liked enough to date more than once – but none had ever dumped her. She was… she was being dumped! Light was the love of her life, as far as she was concerned and he… he…

"Unfortunately." Light confirmed, keeping his expression set to deep sorrow.

It didn't entirely mirror his true thoughts; he was sorry to be cruel to someone else so directly, but Misa certainly wasn't his idea of a suitable girlfriend for someone like him. They were nothing alike and opposites attracted only to a degree.

She had kind of roped him into this relationship in the first place. Cornered him, in a way. And he now needed someone supportive, intellectual and not so entirely dependent on him.

The words were finally sinking in and Misa felt her waterproof mascara lose the struggle against the waterfalls of tears that were streaming down her cheeks.

"B-but L-Light…! Why would you b-b-break up with Misa-Misa?" she whimpered weakly, choking on her own sobs.

She was near hysterics. She wanted to beat on Light with her tiny fists and call him a complete jerk, but she loved him too much. Plus, there was a table between them. And something in her was still conscious of being watched by many people with possible phones and recording devices of different kinds with them.

"Misa, try to see it from my point of view." Light said calmly, trying to soothe the idol by handing her a tissue, which she quickly snatched and used to blow her perfect nose. A scene was the last thing either of them needed now. "I'm going to To-Oh law school and if I'm going to be head of police one day, my girlfriend has to be someone respectable-"

"What?" Misa's shriek echoed through the restaurant; several guests turned around, some recognizing the model and whispering to others.

"I meant someone who would command respect." Light amended quickly. Rash words could cost a lot right now. Misa wasn't above thrashing their whole table if she threw a tantrum, he knew. "Someone serious… and you're an idol."

"B-but everybody loves Misa-Misa!" she objected weakly.

Light sighed, but he saw victory nearby and went for the kill. "I'm sorry, but I don't think police experts would agree with that."

It was logic not even Misa could deny.

"Y-you're breaking up with Misa because she's… too Misa?" the model stammered out, putting things together in her head. Was she too pretty? Were her boobs too big? Or… was she too popular? She did wear skimpy outfits at work, but only because of work! She was serious!

She was!

"Yes." The fatal blow struck home. "Misa-Misa is anything but serious."

"But Misa is seriously in love with you!" the model cried, playing her last card.

By then, the entire restaurant was listening to their exchange, watching the drama unfold. Most men didn't understand why anyone would do this to someone like Misa; most women were wondering if that meant they could try and chat up Light.

"So you say." In fact, Light didn't entirely believe that. Misa was still rather childish; her feelings could be simple infatuation, which wasn't something he wanted. "But I believe this to be for the best for both of us."

By the time he finished that sentence, Misa was out of the restaurant, crying her eyes out and running as fast as she could, just to get away from what was to be her dream come true.

**o.O.o**

"Misa-chan, honey, it's been twelve days…." Satsuki's attempt at comfort was laced with impatience.

They were all at Misa's apartment once more, sitting in a circle and trying to cheer up a thoroughly miserable-looking blonde. She had done her work, but her last photo shoot had turned out more gothic than Lolita. Not good for her image; besides, news of the breakup had apparently reached the ears of tabloid journalists, who immediately made a scandal out of it.

Apparently, someone had managed to take a picture of their restaurant shouting match with a phone. Misa's manager had been so angry that she had ordered Misa to take a timeout until she was fit to stand before the camera once again.

Hiyori watched the makeup-less Misa with worry; she was looking very down, especially when crunching on rice crackers as if they were chocolate.

"Look, there's tons of guys out there who would kill to see you live, not to mention date you!" she suggested brightly. "Chin up; cheer up!"

Misa continued munching and crunching. Nothing mattered anymore; not even her figure. What use was it if it didn't get her Light?

"Besides, I don't even think he's that hot!" Satsuki scoffed, lying through her teeth. Light was anything but not that hot, but she didn't think that would be something to tell Misa now. "Sure, he's top student of all of Japan, but hell-o? You're Misa-Misa! Everyone loves you!"

"We brought you some magazines with your photos in them!" Hiyori added quickly, dropping a stack of new fashion magazines before Misa. Most of them were older than two weeks, back when Misa-Misa had still been the perfect perky idol of all of Japan, not a lovesick heartbroken wreck with slightly greasy hair.

Misa flipped through the pages without any real interest before finding an issue of JJ that made her stare at one page. It was an article titled "_Who says it's a man's world?_" about prize-winning businesswomen and office workers in general. Clearly, the feminist section of the magazine, something Misa would usually ignore, but this time, she stared at it as if it was her salvation.

"What?" Hiyori asked, looking at the page over Misa's shoulder.

"Look at this!" Misa cried suddently, pointing at the picture of a particularly plain-looking young woman in a business suit and a stack of books in her hands. "This is the kind of girl Light wants!"

Satsuki revised her opinion on Light; hot he might be, but he had really bad taste. "A spinster with a bad bowl cut who thinks grey is the new pink?" she asked, obviously disgusted.

"No, someone serious!" Misa clarified, remembering the word from that horrible night. Someone who was the complete opposite of Misa-Misa… "Someone who never was a himegyaru as a kid! Who can't tell EGL apart from EGA!"

"Then he certainly ain't as smart as his grades say!" Hiyori scoffed, folding her arms. "Does he cheat in class?"

"Guys… Misa knows how to win him back." the model said, her tone perking up in a moment and giving her most Misa-Misa smile. "Misa's going to To-Oh to study law!"

The girls were speechless for a full two minutes while Misa fished out her phone and immediately called her manager, Arisawa Yuki. In a moment, she announced the news to the manager and the woman reacted precisely how her friends wanted to react, but couldn't due to astonishment.

"To-Oh law? Misa, what has gotten into you?" The older woman yelled into the phone. "First the breakup drama and now this?"

"Yuki-san, Misa means this!" The model was also a perfect actress; she knew how to plead, especially when she really wanted to go. "Misa wants to go there!"

The manager sighed in deep irritation. This was a very ill-timed whim. "Misa, I know that you were upset when that Yagami boy left you, but it's bad enough that your latest photo shoot didn't look as good as the previous two; you need to get over this and get back on your feet!"

"But this could do heaps for Misa's image!" The blonde was pacing around the room now, inventing wildly. "Think about it: Misa-Misa is not only pretty and a good singer, but she's smart as well! Misa could gain new fans… nerd fans! Smart fans, you know, the studious kind!"

She hadn't actually thought about needing a reason beyond getting Light back. In her mind, that was reason enough.

"And what makes you think you could even get into a school as prestigious To-Oh?" Yuki challenged skeptically. "There are entrance requirements and deadlines for things like that. It isn't you to do things like this."

Misa froze as well. Her high school grades weren't bad; they were simply average. Certainly not good enough to get her into a top-rated university.

"Love conquers all?" Misa quoted weakly.

"Misa, this will wreck your schedule completely!"

Tears of anger, sadness and determination sprang into the blonde's eyes and everyone knew better than to refuse Misa when she was crying. "But Yuki, Misa… Misa can't be Misa without Light. Misa really loves him! Without Light… the photo shoots will only turn up as bad as the previous one!"

Now that was a threat way below the belt. There was a long silence on the other end of the line before…

"Okay then." Misa punched the air and silently cheered. "Check the requirements for that university. I'll start working on the PR; you're branching out into music, if you still remember that. Maybe you could find inspiration among real life students, okay?" Misa nodded, finding that plausible. "If you can get there, we'll make a deal."

"Yay! Thank you, Yuki-san!" The model hugged her phone, as if it was a person.

"But if you don't get there, you'll get a day off at a spa to shake this off and then get back to work." the manager bargained, "Deal?"

Misa didn't hesitate even a second. The image of Light's jubilant face in her mind was the only thing she needed to convince her.

"Deal."

Her friends were looking at her in silent astonishment when she glanced back at them, all smiles and confidence. Then, finally, they both echoed three words: "Oh. My. Gawd!"

**o.O.o**

Two months later, after painstaking learning and being a total social recluse, Misa finally managed to get her application delivered to To-Oh. With the hundreds of applications that the admissions board had to process, hers would have gone almost unnoticed, if it wasn't for the fact that it was scented.

"Next is… Amane Misa-san." one of the councilors said, reading the neatly scribbled kanji on the paper. For an idol, Misa had nice and intelligible handwriting.

"Shares a name with the model, does she?" someone perked up.

"No, I'm guessing this is her." the first councilor said, looking at the various papers. "It's her agency, signed right here…"

"You have to be joking." A third councilor noted, leaning back on her chair as she organized a stack of applications. "Seriously? The idol? Why would she want to go to university? She earns more money than most of our graduates already!"

"Possibly to attract wider audiences?" Councilor Number Two suggested. "Does she even have the proper qualifications?"

"Surprisingly… yes." the first councilor said, astonished to her himself say that. An idol, going to law school? "Her high school marks aren't stellar, but she fulfils the necessary conditions… she has a surprisingly good essay." he added as he read through the pages more thoroughly than he usually would.

Number three raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"Yes, it deals mostly with how she could improve the general image of the university, but it isn't unreasonable." One added, a vein twitching on his forehead as he read over and over the cutesy way Misa referred to herself with her first name instead of a proper pronoun.

"Her recommendations include a letter from Gackt…" Number Two, who had come to list through the papers, added in astonishment.

"Is this the kind of person we want studying here?" a newly arrived Number Four asked, steadying his glasses on his long nose.

"I'd love to meet her!" Number Two said brightly. "Her photos in Non-no were awesome!"

He received a stern look from Number Three. "This isn't a fan mail service; this is law school."

"We might get a broader range of students if we announce that Amane-san has been accepted." Number One suggested. "She makes a good point about the publicity… besides, it's only one place and she is a huge star nowadays."

Number Four sighed. "Very well, then. Amane Misa is hereby admitted to To-Oh, Department of Law."


	2. Legally Stumped

_**EDIT**_: Currently being corrected & rewritten. (2011)

Second chapter! Things are progressing nicely and quickly! And those of you who ventured a guess at how the other parts will be filled, here are your answers! Of course, the plot will stray somewhat from the movie and more into the DN canon universe later on, but right now, I like things the way they are!

As for this chapter, I left things as they are in the manga and anime, only changed Misa's role somewhat – she isn't the second Kira here, she has the backstory with Light as explained in the previous chapter.

**o.O.o**

**Legally Stumped**

**o.O.o**

The moment Amane Misa entered To-Oh University, whispers that weren't entirely hushed proceeded to erupt. She was smiling so happily and confidently that no one actually dared approach the star yet, but some students were openly discussing whether or not they should risk getting an autograph.

The idol would have stood out even among a wilder crowd, especially in her gothic Lolita attire and happy-go-lucky bounce to her walk. For the occasion, she had lessened her makeup and bought a stylish black bag with a red rose embroidered on it that went well with her clothes. Appearance was everything, after all, if she wanted to be taken seriously, but she didn't think that denying her own style on the first day would be a good idea. Besides, the news that she had been accepted into To-Oh University had already hit the tabloids, so she felt like she had to live up to the general expectations.

She had brand new books with her, a full set of pens of all colors. In an attempt to be prepared for this sudden change, Misa had even read through most of the books she had purchased with Yuki. None of them seemed exactly friendly to her; the writing style was difficult and cumbersome and Misa found herself yawning and reading the same line five times before catching herself. It was a difficult process, to be certain, but Misa constantly reminded herself that she was doing this for Light and beat the image of herself in a wedding dress into her head until she was ready to burst with determination.

She had been jubilant, ecstatic when she had received news that had gotten she got admitted. Yuki didn't want to believe it and actually phoned the university to see if it was a mistake. Misa didn't even feel insulted about that – she actually stole the phone from her manager and thanked whoever was on the other end for offering her a place. It was practically heaven.

After all, she deserved it; she had studied over and over and over again for the admissions tests. And those had been amazingly difficult, but Misa-Misa was an amazing actress; she had imagined that she was the leading lady in a criminal drama or something.

Just in case she failed and made a fool of herself, she had put on a wig and glasses before going to the exam, feeling quite comfortable as only one of the crowd for the first time.

Now, however, weeks later, here she was at To-Oh, ready for the next step; winning Light back. That meant impressing him in whatever class they had together and she had to do it not as a shy girl with a mousy brown bob, but as Amane Misa, idol and superstar and now star student as well.

She didn't necessary realize what she was getting into; hers was the belief that confidence and being Misa-Misa was sufficient to handle any task. That belief was only confirmed when a shy-looking girl patted her shoulder and hung her head in a deferring bow before thrusting a tiny pink notebook and pen to Misa.

"?" she spilled very quickly, her round-shaped face reddening in embarrassment. The crowds around Misa momentarily stopped gossiping about her and watched her give her best model-like smile.

"Sign your notebook?" Misa repeated, just in case as the girl nodded fervently. "Sure, why not! Here you go."

"Thank you, Misa-Misa!" the girl said repeatedly, bowing and bowing and almost hyperventilating in the process. Encouraged by all this, everyone who had been watching the exchange – meaning the whole courtyard, practically – almost pounced on Misa in their own fits of fangirlishness.

"Wow, it's really Misa-Misa!"

"Are you… are you here to see someone?" a boy asked hopefully, as if dreaming that perhaps that someone was him.

"I love your new CD!" a group of girls squealed.

"Could I show you around?" Another boy asked with forced confidence, but the crowd swallowed him immediately.

Misa, back in her element, was now quite confident that she could pull this off as long as she kept smiling and waving. "Thank you, but Misa is just looking for Criminal law 101 with Misora Naomi-san in the Tatewaki building." she said, giving her best lost expression and waited for it to work

"It's over there, to the left." Everyone shouted immediately.

"Thank you!" the idol squealed, securing her bag on her shoulder once more. And people said university was difficult! "Misa has to get going or she'll be late!"

"Wait, Misa-san… you _go_ here?" Another group of girls began squealing and whispering to one another. Having the chance to be an idol's best friend was like heaven to them.

Misa nodded, blonde pigtails bouncing as she took off. "Uh-huh! Misa is all for justice, you know?" At least, for the kind of justice that actually _worked_… but unsolved murders of family members weren't part of her current persona. Pretty and happy. "See you guys later!"

As the stunned crowd parted to let her pass, Misa finally spotted a familiar figure making its way to a building near hers – or possibly the very same. She remembered what she had been telling herself over and over again; that Light couldn't know right away that she was here to win him back. After all, Misa-Misa could have any man she wanted and that meant that Misa-Misa wasn't desperate. Desperation wasn't attractive in any shape and size, so the best way to do this was to pretend to be cool.

Of course, it was difficult to pretend any such thing when her love finally spotted her in front of the chatting crowd, dressed in her usual fashion, a happy bounce to her step.

"_Misa_?" The idol did her best impression of surprise at hearing his voice before she turned around. Light didn't necessarily look shocked – he was too calm and collected for that – but he did look surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, hi Light-kun!" the idol said, adding the suffix to sound less familiar with him. After all, now that they weren't together any longer, she couldn't appear like some clingy desperate girl. "Misa is just heading to class, how about you?"

This time, Light blinked, and if he were anyone else, his mouth would have likely opened in silent astonishment.

"Wait a minute… you got into To-Oh University?" he asked, just to clarify things. He wasn't one to read tabloids, let alone put weight to them, so he had no idea.

"Yes! Manager-san said it would be good for Misa's image to have "higher education", so Misa decided to try and got it!" Misa said perkily, happy with the first results she was getting. She pronounced the words like something alien, but still, she had gotten it right. He had definitely not expected that! "So Misa is here to study law!"

"You got admitted into the department of law?" Light repeated incredulously.

This seemed like a hallucination, except that he knew that his imagination wasn't nearly vivid enough to produce such nonsense. Misa and community college he could understand, but Misa and To-Oh University?

And _law_? She had never had any interest in it any more than she had given thought to poverty in third world countries.

"For justice!" the idol said, making a V with her fingers and winking at Light, who was beginning to understand what was going on here. "Misa wanted a good choice for the future, when she might be too mature-looking to be an idol! Misa always thinks ahead!"

"I see."

And he did, really; there was no chance Misa would have gone to university unless she had something to gain from it. And he knew very well from experience that when Misa got besotted with something, everything that got in her way better watch out. She was clingy when it came to her possessions and obviously believed that she was being very subtle about this.

"Anyway, Misa has to go now!" Misa chirped, waving at her former boyfriend. "We can hang out later on, okay?"

And off she flounced, presumably off to class. Light shook his head slightly. The standards of this school were obviously lower than he had supposed; or they simply believed that Misa-Misa would bring more popularity to them. More controversy was more like it.

Misa wasn't dumb; she was just… simple. University was beyond her intelligence level; that was all there was to it.

Personally, he was giving her two weeks. One, if she was really studying the same subject he was.

**o.O.o**

"A career in law opens your path to the world. You will understand everything in a different light once you finish this course and hopefully open yourself doors to new possibilities."

Misora Naomi, semi-retired FBI agent, was actually finding herself enjoying this assignment.

Monitoring the activities of students at To-Oh while earning a more than decent wage as a professor was more than reasonable, especially when there was the chance that she might find out something useful regarding the Kira case in all this.

After her fiancé had broken his arm and thus was rendered incapable of joining the FBI agents that were to search for Kira, Misora applied for his position based on her previous work with the world-famous detective L, who was taking this case. It had required some detective work, some pushing, a touch of threatening… but her previous work with L had paid off.

And when one of the top universities in Japan was targeted – in a sense – for potential Kira suspects, her previous degree in law was coming in very handy.

Her professional pride was a bit hurt when she discovered that L had actually revealed himself to the investigators and not to her, but she understood that he was apologizing when the computer-distorted voice explained to her that she couldn't risk subconsciously glancing at him at times or paying more attention to him.

From this alone, Naomi deduced that L himself had likely enrolled to To-Oh as a student, which was a very bold move. Not only did it mean revealing his face to the world, it also meant that things were getting serious. It was kind of exciting to know that the great detective himself was among them somewhere; Naomi had actually always suspected that he had to be younger than thirty; one of those young geniuses praised by the academic world, except that he ranked high above them even from what little she knew about his deductions skills.

"Now, all of you must be completely familiar with the history and concepts of Roman law by now from your secondary school. All of that is foundation upon which we will start building on." Naomi continued, facing the latest class. Teaching criminal law was actually pretty gratifying. A hand rose up and she acknowledged it, glancing only briefly at the seating list to determine the questioner. "Yes, Nakayama-san?"

"My apologies, Misora-sensei, this doesn't necessarily concern the course, but I would like to ask what I think everyone would like to know."

Naomi braced herself for the inevitable question people always asked her: her case with L had gone public and she had appeared on TV once herself, by then an investigator and not a secret agent. How people always found out, she never knew.

Everyone knew she was ex-FBI – that wasn't exactly hidden knowledge. In fact, she thought the university might have let it slip out accidentally-on-purpose to heighten applicant numbers. The kicker came later.

"It is true that you worked with the world-famous detective, L?"

After the boy finished his question, a predictable silence swept the classroom. Naomi knew quite well that these were kids who were well-aware of the situation of the Kira case and likely supported one side or the other, either publicly or privately. Kira, though mostly a myth to the masses still, was at least someone people could identify with. Compared to these "savior" tendencies he or she seemed to have, L seemed almost like the antagonist of the whole _divine plan_.

"Curiosity should not be denied, but it has to be carefully placed lest it descend into impertinence, Nakayama-san." Naomi warned, looking only mildly stern. She might as well get things over with now. "I can give no details regarding my previous involvement with the FBI or any information about my previous involvement. But yes, I once worked on a case at L's behest back in the United States. And before you ask, I have never met him nor seen him in person." she added, telling the truth on both counts. "Any further questions about my work with L or might we move on with our course?"

Silence. Naomi smiled.

"Good. Then I assume you've all finished your reading assignment of the first fifty pages and thus are familiar with the concept of jurisdiction. Now, who can tell me if the case involved _lex loci actus_ or _lex loci delicti commissi_? We will see…" Her finger went down the alphabetical seating list, stopping at a name that seemed vaguely familiar to her. "Amane Misa-san?"

"Here!"

Naomi almost blinked. In the front row sat a girl that looked like she stepped out of a fashion magazine for teens – dressed drastically more extravagantly than most of the students, but tastefully still. Also, the professor remembered her giddy face from some billboards she had seen only that day.

"I'd like to apologize; I didn't know we had a reading assignment right away!"

Naomi frowned only slightly. "Of course, Amane-san. Reading assignments hardly apply to idols, do they?" The girl appeared completely stunned into silence; evidently, no one had said something like that to her before. All the better for her. "How about… Takada Kiyomi-san, then?

A tall, short-haired girl stood up in the back, answering without missing a beat. "_Lex loci actus_."

The professor gave a slight appraising nod before expanding the question. "And why?"

"Because in _lex loci delicti commissi_, the tort is committed." Takada recited as if she had swallowed the textbook, which was forcing its way up her slender throat. "The two typically point to the same production, but in the case of product liability, for example, the former would be the place of manufacturing, while the latter would be the place of injury."

"Correct." At least she knew her stuff, even if it was likely that if asked to explain things, the girl would stumble with words. "Now, Takada-san, do you believe that if the duties of a student of this university were to be considered laws, would Amane-san's failure to prepare for this lesson be considered _actus reus_?"

Takada spared only a brief, rather cold glance at the shocked but smiling Misa. "Of course. _Actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea._" she quoted in Latin, immediately translating the phrase."The act doesn't make a person guilty unless the mind is also guilty. Amane-san has admitted to _mens rea_."

In the front row, Misa had absolutely no idea what all this Latin was about, but she knew that she didn't like that Takada girl.

"I see that you have done your reading thoroughly, Takada-san." Naomi noted, deciding to take this a step further. "Now, considering this is a first offense, would you, as jury, support the judge's – that being myself – decision to ask Amane-san to leave and return only upon preparing for the lesson?"

"Absolutely." Takada said without missing a beat.

"Very well, then." Naomi turned to Misa with no real superiority in her expression; simply the neutrality and impartiality a true judge should possess and show. "Amane-san, you have heard your classmate. By decision of the jury, you are found guilty and banished from this classroom henceforth until you make amends for your transgression."

Misa blinked, glancing at her teacher and then at her things. She knew that lawyers had a habit of using complex words when all they were saying was really "_get out until you learn your stuff_." With a dejected expression, she picked up her bag and left the classroom without even looking back, hearing the professor start a lecture on what _mens rea_ actually meant and how it was related to the subject of law. Misa didn't really listen to that any longer. She felt something sting her eyes, like tears but spicier, but she blinked the anger away.

This was just one class. Nothing too severe. Her mission wasn't over yet. She could do this. She bet this happened on everyone's first day! Well, perhaps not on the first day, but at some point, for certain…

Dejected and completely disregarding the attention of whatever students she passed, Misa headed to the courtyard and collapsed on the nearest empty bench she found. This was no time to feel down.

She was Misa-Misa! She had to shine even if she got kicked out of class. The idol actually contemplated going through the book once again to see what exactly she had missed on her first reading. Those Latin phrases were completely unfamiliar to her.

About two minutes later, Misa realized she was being watched. Not that it was an uncommon occurrence for her – as an idol at a crowded university, it was only natural that people would want to take a look at her. Yet this was like standing under a surveillance camera, at least to her. That was really unnerving.

Looking up from the book she didn't really understand, her eyes rested on the bench facing hers, meaning about ten feet away from her, where her observer was sitting. Now, Misa was no stranger to attention, but she certainly didn't appreciate being looked at like this. actually, if she was to summarize this – and him – in one word, it would be…

"Pervert." Misa said clearly instead of muttering it as she had likely intended to. Obviously, the strange boy heard, because he blinked rather lazily.

Upon getting a closer look at the horrible circles that made his large dark eyes seem positively protuberant, Misa reconsidered: the better word to summarize him was _raccoon_. And a perverted one at that.

Not only was he sitting very strangely and dressed in clothes both too old and slightly too large for him, he didn't even bother denying her accusation. He seemed unfazed, actually, momentarily chewing on his thumb while still examining her.

"The probability of your outfit attracting unwanted or less than platonic attention in these surroundings is close to eighty-three percent, Misa-san." he proclaimed after a few seconds, his voice rather unconcerned by the fact that she gave him her best glare.

Unfortunately, Misa was too upset and this was the only outlet she had, talking to someone, so she decided not to care who it was at this point. The blonde bowed her head in frustration and poured things out.

"Uh! Does this always happen? Do teachers regularly throw people out of class simply because you don't have a Latin dictionary stuffed up your-" The idol caught herself with a bitter sigh, realizing that she was talking nonsense to a total stranger who looked like he hadn't ever seen a department store from the inside. How could someone like that understand her? "Oh, forget it."

"Well, you are a law student, Misa-san…" the raccoon boy noted patiently, but not in a deadpan voice; it was just like a comment on the weather. "Some Latin is a requirement."

The idol's brow got scrunched up; she could deal with being addressed as Misa-san by someone she didn't know, but…

"How come you know that much about Misa?" she asked suspiciously. Maybe he really was some kind of pervert stalker… but then again, everyone knew about Misa-Misa. It wasn't as if he had told her he knew what her bra size was, but Misa imagined with an inner shudder that he likely wouldn't mind knowing.

He actually didn't seem much older than her; Misa speculated that he would have looked younger if he were better dressed and looking less corpse-like. It seemed he hadn't seen sunlight for some time. Aside from that and the general scruffiness of his unkept appearance, he seemed like one of those cloistered geniuses that dissected bugs as a hobby; weird nerd kids who had no social life. Misa momentarily felt a stab of pity, but then she remembered that he had been observing her as if she were an object – like a pervert, really – and the emotion vanished in an instant.

"You have just walked out of the law faculty." he noted simply, but not patronizingly, as another would have. Misa wanted to smack herself. Of course she had walked out of the law building. "And you have mentioned problems with Latin. Combined, the probability of you studying law is very high. Besides," It seemed that he almost smiled, but his eyes remained as empty-looking as ever; only the corners of his mouth twitched ever so slightly. "That is a law book you're holding."

Looking down into her hands, Misa realized that it was the truth. She had made a fool of herself without trying. Great. "Oh. Do you always talk like that?" she asked quickly to change the topic. A quizzical look was her only answer, so she proceeded to elaborate. "In percentages and all that. Misa thinks it's kind of funny."

She had no doubt it was perverted in some sense she couldn't yet comprehend, though.

"Calculating probabilities makes life easier over seventy-five percent of the time." the boy noted with a seriousness that could compete with that of any professor at the university. Clearly, he believed what he was saying. "That is reasonable proof of the effective nature of statistics."

"See? You're giving Misa a headache just by speaking." It occurred to Misa that she was actually slightly interested. She might as well make conversation; if he was smart, she might get some help studying. You never knew. "Are you a math student here or something?"

An odd look passed through his eyes, though Misa could have imagined it; it was gone at once. "Not exactly. But to answer your question about teachers; I was told it happens only when you aren't well-prepared and not too often."

"Then it must be just Misora-sensei. I don't really like her that much. I don't even like these books that much. They aren't very interesting." Misa confessed, glancing down at her bag, stuffed with heavy books about law and history. Neither was her favorite subject; at high school, she had liked arts and crafts much better than this.

"All this makes me wonder why you are even bothering with law studies, Misa-san." the boy noted, his thumb back between his teeth. It was an unattractive habit, chewing one's nails, but Misa decided not to comment on it at the moment. "Law is all about precise regulations and definitions. And you have a very promising career ahead of you, from what I know."

The idol tilted her head in interest. She could understand that he knew about her, but she didn't expect someone like him to know too much about her besides her fame. "You know about Misa-Misa?"

It almost seemed that the dark-haired boy blushed; or, at least, his equivalent of it was that his ghostly pale skin seemed slightly healthier-looking for a few brief seconds.

"I've been a fan since your last year's photos in Eighteen." he confessed with a small smile. A fan, then, not a pervert. Misa approved of that.

"Ooh, that's great!" she said happily. It was flattering to see someone as intellectual as this boy be her fan. She started speaking before she could ask him his name, just feeling the positive energy return to her. "But those photos weren't too good, you should see-"

"Misa." Light appeared next to her bench suddenly. Misa turned around, a plastic smile fixed on her face. She forgot all about what she intended to ask and say. Students were pouring out of the building; class was over, obviously. And she wanted to talk to her ex anyway.

"Oh, hi, Light!" she said blithely. "Thanks for cheering Misa up, Tanuki-san! We'll talk later!" the idol waved at her would-be friend before bouncing after Light.

After she disappeared from sight, a suspicious-looking Light leading her away, L actually blinked. No one had _ever_ called him raccoon-san, at least not to his face. He supposed it was a small price to pay for meeting Misa, whose work he really appreciated in the rare moments he had the chance to get away from work, but still…

The Kira investigation was certainly in for an interesting turn if someone like Misa became involved.

**o.O.o**

"Misa, tell me why you're here." Light said once they found a more private location. He intended to resolve things within the fifteen minutes he had in-between classes, even if it meant a quick disillusionment of Misa. The last thing he needed at this point was to get her involved.

"To study law, of course!" Misa said with a happy smile. "You're being a little silly, Light!"

"And how did you do in your first class?"

Misa shrugged. "Well, there was this really mean girl with ugly hair there, but no biggie. Misa can deal with things like that now that she's ready for it."

"Look, Misa, you know I don't want to be mean to you; you proved yourself by getting into To-Oh." Light noted, taking a different approach to the situation.

If he told Misa that it was going to look bad if she got kicked out of university, she would likely understand and leave. Hopefully so; even though Misa was a definite airhead, she was serious when it came to her work, at the very least.

"Why thank you!" Misa beamed, getting the wrong idea about what he was about to say.

"But what I wanted to say is-"

"There you are, Light. Oh, and Amane-san as well. Still perky, I see."

Takada Kiyomi, in all her "refined" glory, approached and immediately took Light's hand. Though this was an annoying development, Light decided to let this one slide because of Takada's good timing. Misa would understand it this time for certain.

The model blinked, ignoring Takada and smiling at her ex-boyfriend, as if hoping that he was going to send the other girl away. "Light, you two know each other?"

"Uh, yes. Misa, this is Takada Kiyomi; we went to junior high together and we got back in touch over the summer." Light explained without hesitation. The fact that Takada still had her beauty queen diva-ish pride only served to add to his side in this situation.

"That's nice…" Misa noted, not really looking at the other girl. She was waiting for Light to finish his explanation.

"What I mean to say is…" Hoping that he wasn't in for a screaming session, Light took a deep breath and decided not to pull any punches this time. "She's my girlfriend now."

The idol's mind was a complete blank for a moment. Then, she gave a slightly shaky laugh. "Excuse Misa, she entered Twilight Zone for a second there. What did you say?"

"That I'm Light's girlfriend, Amane-san." Takada interjected with a dazzling smile before Light could repeat himself. "You know, someone with who he shares a romantic relationship. You should know that word, but then again, even that might be beyond your mental scope."

"Kiyomi…" Light began chidingly. The last thing he needed was a catfight right now. Sure, he wouldn't be involved in it, but that didn't mean that it couldn't damage his immaculate reputation.

"I'm just explaining things to your idol ex." Takada said sweetly, glancing at him with her perfect china doll-like face which held no sway over him. "You know, my cousin is such a fan of your photo shoots. She lives in America now and you know how big they are on all this Halloween business…"

For the second time in her life, Misa felt the air being pushed out of her lungs, as if someone had slapped her, hard. Before Takada could finish speaking, the blonde excused herself and practically ran through the whole campus, refusing to let herself cry before the door of her apartment slammed shut behind her.


	3. Legally Tricked

**EDIT**_**: **__Currently being rewritten and corrected (2011)._

I love all the support this ficlet has gotten, guys! So keep your reviews coming, please, because they encourage me to go on with all of this!

**o.O.o**

**Legally****Tricked**

**o.O.o**

Misa didn't sleep much that night. She didn't know what to do or who to call. It was times like that when she missed her mother most of all. She couldn't call her sister, because the advice she would get was predictable even to her: give up, move on. Shake it off; be Misa-Misa again. But Light didn't want Misa-Misa. And Misa wanted Light. It was a catch twenty-two, really (she had heard that phrase somewhere in a movie once). She saw no way out of it.

Worst of all, she discovered that she had lost her second cell phone, meaning that she would have to get a new one. Fortunately, it wasn't her work phone, but her private one, but it was a loss nonetheless. She didn't fancy having two phones anyway, but even she couldn't deny that it meant she knew when to switch on her Misa-Misa persona and when she could simply be herself.

Things were just getting worse by the minute for Amane Misa and she hadn't even opened her law books yet. She had had quite enough of those during the day. It was the first moment when she actually began to doubt if law school was the way to go. All of this seemed so foreign to her, unlike anything she had been through. And, make no mistake; clawing her way to the top of the entertainment industry hadn't been all sunshine and sparkles. Misa knew how to work hard for a worthy goal. It was just that she had worked on that one particular goal for so long that she was discovering she couldn't be anyone else, not even for the boy she loved.

Being Misa-Misa obviously wasn't enough for Light. It wasn't enough for her professors, either. Half of the time, she didn't understand what they were saying in class. And then, there was Takada Kiyomi, who had the gall to look not entirely unfortunate from up close and who was now Light's girlfriend.

The world seemed to be going to hell fast for Misa. Her break would end soon and she would have to get back to work as well as school. There was no way she would catch up with things. Just because she had gotten into To-Oh didn't mean she could afford to skip out on her career, after all – food didn't put itself on the table and the blonde model loved her job, if only because of all the time and effort she had invested into it.

It was enough to make anyone cry, but Misa vowed not to. Misa-Misa was always supposed to be pretty and happy. She couldn't cry. She had cried quite enough during her breakup with Light. This would be fine. Things would get better.

Misa hated lying to herself.

It was nearly four in the morning when the still fully-clothed model managed to close her eyes for a moment and drift on into blankness, but a moment later – or so it seemed to her – her phone began ringing on the table. Immediately, Misa reached for it in a series of nearly automatic movements. Her energy came from the fact that she was hoping that it was Light, but she found that she didn't recognize the number displayed. It was likely a mistake, but she picked it up nonetheless.

"Hello?" the idol asked simply, sitting up and rubbing her left eye. She hoped that whoever it was had a very good reason for calling.

"Misa-san, running around with your bag open increases the chances of you losing something." A familiar voice said from the other end of the line. Misa blinked and the understood why the phone number had seemed so familiar. It was her own phone; the one she had lost. "A cellular phone, for instance."

"You found Misa's phone?" It was most definitely the boy she had spoken with previously – the pervert with the raccoon eyes. Well, it wasn't exactly nice to think of him that way, but it was very late and Misa was still trying to find something to vent her frustration on. "Thanks a lot for that. Couldn't you have called Misa at a normal hour?" she almost hissed the last sentence, feeling part of her annoyance lift.

It was oddly good to have someone to talk to. It felt like she wasn't alone with her thoughts anymore, even if she was just channeling her inner anger.

There was a rustle of something akin to paper on the other end of the line. "Am I interrupting something?" he asked politely, as if this was a regular occurrence.

Misa considered it a fear of her self-control that she didn't smash the phone to the floor in a fit of rage. Just how clueless could one person be? Was he an insomniac or something? "Unless you count calling at four a.m. as an interruption, then no. Sleep isn't remotely important to Misa, oh no."

For a few seconds, the line was quiet and the idol thought she heard a faint munching noise on the other end before she got her reply. "Sarcasm doesn't suit you well, Misa-san." her caller commented wisely.

"Misa knows. She'll try harder next time."

"If I woke you up, I can call later…" Well, look who was being considerate all of a sudden!

"No, no! Misa was up anyhow." the blonde protested. She actually smiled slightly, though she kept it out of her voice. At least someone thought of her! "It's nice of you to call. Why are you awake so late? Studying?" she asked, trying to make conversation. She had no idea what students usually spoke about, really.

"Working, actually." he replied and once more, there was the sound of papers being moved and a few clicking noises, like a computer might make. He was probably writing some kind of report for class or something like that, Misa supposed.

"This late? You aren't from Tokyo then, right?"

"Not really, no."

"Where, then?" She was suddenly interested. Making friends in the modeling business was difficult; Misa had few friends in Tokyo, actually, and almost no friends she could truly consider friends in the full sense of the word. Besides, he seemed interesting, in a slightly freaky kind of way. "Misa is from Kyoto originally, but if you're a fan like you said, you probably know that."

If he was surprised by the question, he didn't show it at all. "Abroad." he said simply, without a pretext.

Misa was both impressed and frustrated. She decided to go with the former – otherwise this would be a very short conversation.

"Misa would never have guessed. You speak Japanese so easily." For a wild moment, Misa tried to imagine someone like him in some kind of foreign environment, like what America looked like in the movies she watched for her English. He didn't really fit in there. Then again, someone like him hardly seemed fitting in any setting, but still, it seemed odd. "You came all this way to study at To-Oh?"

"I came mostly because of work, but yes, I suppose."

"Does your family live here in Tokyo?" Misa asked. That would be logical; or perhaps he just liked it here better. Misa certainly liked Tokyo better than her home city.

This time, the silence on the other end was heavier, as if she had finally struck a more sensitive chord. However, when he answered, it didn't seem that personal to him at all. "I wouldn't know, Misa-san. I've never had a family in the sense you speak of."

The idol smacked herself mentally. Of course, that was more probable than what her imagination might produce. She was really dense at times. "Misa is sorry. But I envy you, actually." she added after a moment.

"Why would you say that?" he asked, a mild frown audible in his voice.

"Well, Misa's parents were killed two years ago." As a fan, he likely knew that; it had been all over the news, along with pictures of her and her sister. She still had bad dreams about it at times. "She… I miss them. Very much." Misa added, biting her lip for a moment.

"I would have thought you were one of the people who believe it's better to have loved and lost." her caller commented. Perhaps he was really slightly twisted, if he thought it was possible to make a psychological profile of her just by seeing her on TV and meeting her once.

The idol scoffed a bit. "You try it and then tell Misa if you still think it's that good. Anyway, Misa feels a little silly now." And she did; she remembered once again that she had forgotten the most important thing. "I didn't even ask you your name." she said sheepishly, quietly, hoping that he wouldn't be offended. But if he wasn't offended by being called a pervert and a raccoon, then this was unlikely to faze him… much.

"No, I suppose you didn't." he noted. Misa almost suspected that he had come to this realization only now himself. She knew that meeting an idol for the first time was likely a great experience for a fan, but most fans usually wanted to introduce themselves to her in hopes that she would remember them. On the other hand, it was highly improbable that she would forget someone like him within a day.

"Well, then, Misa must correct her mistake." The idol put on a dazzling smile, almost as if they were truly face to face and he could see it and changed her voice to the friendliest tones she could manage. "Nice to meet you, I'm Amane Misa. And you are?"

"Ryuuga Hideki."

The idol blinked rapidly. "What a weird coincidence. Misa knows Hideki-kun the idol, too!" she said happily. "She'll have to stick with Tanuki-san to differentiate between you." Misa noted mischievously, hoping to get a reaction.

Perhaps it was good that he had never known his parents; they seemed to be highly imaginative when it came to names or great fans of Japanese idols. Or maybe it was really just a coincidence. Still, the name didn't seem to suit him for some reason.

"Hm?" There was a strange sound on the other end of the line, something like… cutlery faintly scratching a plate. And the munching again.

"Ryuuga-san… you're eating?" The only confirmation the scandalized idol needed was the continued munching. "Now?" she added, scandalized.

A second later, the munching stopped and what she thought was likely a fork reached for another piece of whatever was on that plate. "Why yes, is that a problem?"

Misa was both shocked and outraged at this turned of events. "It is a problem for you! You'll get fat if you eat this late!" She remembered how painfully thin he had seemed back then, but eating sweets at four in the morning hardly seemed to be the cure for that.

"I don't believe so; thinking burns the most calories." Ryuuga replied with perfect calm. He might as well have been explaining to a child that two plus two equaled four. "If you use your brain, you won't get fat." he noted, obviously stuffing his face with some more cake for good measure.

The only reason the model didn't let out an outraged squeal was because she was afraid that her neighbors might wake up. "Ryuuga-san is being mean to Misa now!" she whined, feeling insulted.

"Oh." Obviously, he had no idea what he had just implied and compensated it by eating some more. Then, an idea popped into his mind, though it was like a stab to the heart to suggest it. "Do you want me to save you a piece?" The words came out very slowly, as if even the possibility was giving him pain.

"No!" Misa most certainly wasn't imagining the little sigh of contentment. Even though he must have known there was no way in the world she would have actually said yes to this ludicrous proposal. "Ryuuga-san is a horrible person, thinking that Misa is stupid!"

"I think nothing of the sort, Misa-san." Ryuuga noted, having the courtesy to swallow before making his reply. It was the truth; though most people would have seen Misa as nothing than a plastic-faced model with a pack of blonde hair dye for the dramatic effect, he found her rather likable, in an impulsively childish fashion. But never stupid. "You are a student of a top-ranked university; if you were, as you say, stupid, you wouldn't be attending To-Oh. One time getting thrown out of a class doesn't end your law career."

"Law career? Misa doesn't want a law career! Misa just wants Light back!"

At the Kira investigation team headquarters, L straightened up uncharacteristically on his chair, if only for a second or two before processing this news. "Wait a moment, Misa-san; you went through all the trouble of getting to To-Oh University… simply to regain Yagami-kun?"

That was… strangely disappointing.

Misa, however, jumped at that information immediately. "You know Light?" she asked eagerly. She was right, then; Ryuuga had to be a genius student like Light and that meant they were likely friends! Well, then that could be her greatest advantage in this battle; befriending him!

"We played tennis together once." L noted plainly, watching some new data appear on his laptop screen. No new deaths within the past hour; that was good for the world but bad for the investigation.

"Then maybe you could help Misa! Make Light understand that Kiyomi-chan is plain and not right for him and that he should return to Misa!" the model chirped happily, as if he had presented her with a solution to all her problems.

If Misa didn't know better, she could almost swear that she heard something akin to a sigh on the other end of the line just as the chair creaked a bit. "Misa-san, I feel I must be honest with you."

"Yes?"

"You are in serious need of a slice of cake." L said in the tones of a judge announcing a sentence to a dangerous criminal. Or, more likely, a psychiatrist about to reveal the diagnosis of an insane patient to their relatives and loved ones. Deadpan serious.

That was more than Misa could take.

"What?" she shrieked. Was that supposed to be funny, after what she had told him about her _not_ eating cake? Or was this another jab at her stupidity? "How is cake supposed to help, Ryuuga-san?"

"Cake makes you feel better." L commented, finishing his own cake with strawberry icing before continuing. "Sugar helps stimulate endorphins and those make you happy. I've never yet met a person who didn't feel better after eating cake."

"Misa can't eat cake! Cake doesn't help her figure or help her get back Light!"

There was a silence on the other end of the line and for a moment, Misa was afraid that she had gone too far. Then… "I'm sorry to have woken you, then, Misa-san. I will return your phone to you as soon as we meet again."

The line went dead afterwards and Misa collapsed on her sofa with an absolutely dejected mood. Things on their way to hell had just speeded up twice as much.

**o.O.o**

"…at nine, okay?" a voice was asking.

Obviously, the other person gave a nod. "Sure, the party should be great. Have you got the champagne and everything?"

It was almost a month since college had started and things weren't looking up for Misa. She was barely making it with the workload she had taken on. Even with less photo shoots and more time to "write songs for her next CD" she was beginning to crumble. She barely spoke with Light and she hadn't managed to find Ryuuga yet to get her phone back and try and apologize for being so obnoxious on the phone – she had realized her mistake about a week later, once her initial anger had evaporated.

It wasn't Ryuuga's fault, perverted cake-eating raccoon though he might be.

Misa immediately dashed out of her classroom at the mention of a party. It might be the chance she was looking for to speak with Light and perhaps she could finally start doing this right… except that the person organizing it seemed to be Takada Kiyomi. Misa felt her spirits drop slightly as she approached the resident "Miss To-Oh" and one of her snot-nosed friends, who immediately scanned her gothic Lolita attire with an air of snobbish superiority. Still, Misa decided to keep her head high.

"A party? Here?" she asked hopefully.

Strangely, Takada didn't blow her off immediately. "Oh, just a little gathering some of us are going to today." she explained blithely, as if it wasn't even worth mentioning.

But the model brightened up immediately. "Misa loves parties!"

For a moment, Takada's expression was unreadable, but then she gave a particularly strange smile. "Great, then you will come as well. But, oh, it's a costume party." Her friend to her right gave her an odd look, but said nothing.

"Okay, Misa likes that too." the idol said uncertainly.

"At eight, then." Takada noted, nodding to Misa and walking off.

But whatever Misa was, she certainly wasn't stupid. The invitation, though appearing heaven-sent, seemed too good to be true. Misa understood that that meant she had to look twice as stunning as usual, which meant she couldn't select one of her usual costumes, not even the "hardcore" gothic Lolita ones. This had to be special. This had to be eye-catching. And so, against her better judgment, she chose something she was supposed to be having a photo shoot in later on.

When Misa appeared among the conservatively-clad college students dressed as a Playboy bunny, it caused quite the commotion, but not necessarily in the negative sense of the word. The model recognized her folly immediately, but she knew how to hold her head high. Takada could go to hell; this could actually work to her advantage, since everyone else was so plainly dressed. After all, Misa was a model, so she was used to wearing clothes that might seem strange to others.

She could do this, she realized; she could beat Takada at her own game. Especially when she saw Light, oddly enough alone, at one of the tables.

"Misa?" he asked, not as surprised as before, when he saw her. Light was used to seeing Misa in strange clothes, ridiculous ones even, so he didn't as much as bat an eyelash at her risqué costume where the other males at the party were having trouble keeping their mouths closed. Inappropriate or not, Misa looked very sexy.

"Hi, Light-kun!" the idol chirped, using all the confidence she had to look as if nothing was out of the ordinary. "Nice to see you here."

"Why are you dressed like that?" Light asked, against his better judgment. It wasn't unlike Misa to be an exhibitionist, but he hadn't known she had something like that in store.

The blonde idol shrugged and winked. "You know Misa; she has to stand out!"

"I see that."

Misa took that as an invitation to sit down and talk, which she did. "So, how are you doing with everything?"

"Quite well, I suppose. I have a routine now, so I think it might all work out." Light said neutrally, partly relieved that Misa didn't seem to have any intention of doing anything more than small talk which could be easily parried and dismissed. "Speaking of which, have you heard the news that the school board is petitioning Misora-sensei to try and get some of our students a place on the supposed Kira investigation team?"

"Misa hasn't heard about that, what does that mean?" the blonde said, tilting her head in interest. She was periodically watching the investigation of Kira; after all, Kira had killed her parents´ murderer, so she supported him.

Kira had come to be the justice her fellow law students seemed incapable of comprehending, much less dispensing; in fact, if it weren't highly impolitic for her professional future, Misa would have gladly entered some of the debates regarding Kira and his reasons and methods.

"They would like nothing more than to show L their support by getting the best of the best work as a legal team on the Kira case." Light explained. He actually seemed interested, but then again, Light was well-informed about everything. "Part investigation, part summing up the true measure of the offences. So far, nothing was confirmed, but Misora-sensei said she was certain L would find out about their intentions eventually."

"Ooh, that would be great!" Misa said happily. It stung a little, that Light seemed to disapprove of Kira, but the latter was still incorporeal to her… whereas her love was right in front of her. It was obvious which one trumped the other. "Misa supports Kira's ideals, but no one can stand above justice! Maybe we will get the places together!"

Light gave her a small, indulgent smile. She was being far too naïve, as usual. "Misa, please be realistic." He was saying this for her own good, really. She would be the laughing stock of the whole academic body if she got kicked out. "You are having trouble with the course alone. Even if these rumors were true, it is unlikely you would get it."

The idol absorbed all those words, but felt as if daggers were being stabbed into every inch of her skin. He was… Light was openly saying that she couldn't do it, despite her efforts, despite her achievements. Something in her was beginning to break and she realized that it was the hope she had gained after her initial success. Hope of regaining Light… the boy who didn't think she could do it and thus didn't want her.

"Light, I-" Misa swallowed, forgetting the honorific. She usually spoke in first person only when her Misa-Misa mask fell and she was taken over by some strong emotion. She didn't even realize how her happy-go-lucky façade had dropped rapidly and just how much older she appeared now. "I'll never be good enough for you, will I?"

There was no answer that could soothe that blow and luckily, she didn't have to hear it, because Takada spotted her at that point and approached her with a particularly spicy smile of victory.

"Amane-san! You're looking…fluffy." Several of her friends giggled, though most of the hall didn't share that opinion. Misa couldn't even remember being this angry. They were expecting her to run off crying again, weren't they? Well, then she had something else coming.

"Oh, Kiyomi-chan." Misa smiled brilliantly at her rival, as if they were truly best friends. "Thanks for the great tip on the costume party! Misa likes your costume. She wouldn't look so constipated when dressing up as a frigid bitch, though." she noted snidely.

Takada's laughter stopped immediately, but before she could recover from her embarrassed flush, Misa shot her a victorious look and left the party, looking as dignified and superior as she could while dressed in such a costume.

Once outside, Misa wandered around the campus only for a few minutes before sitting down on the nearest bench and wiping her eyes. The reality of things was beginning to sink in. she was making a fool of herself; and for what? For a chance with someone who didn't think she had what it takes to be anything more than a smiling blonde.

In a blasphemous moment, Misa wondered if Light was really worth the effort, but then chided herself for thinking something like that. Of course he was! This was her chance to gain him back – and to prove to him and everyone that she was so much better than they thought!

In her determination, she wouldn't have noticed the odd sight of old jeans and even older untied tennis shoes blocking her vision of the sidewalk unless the person wearing both hadn't spoken up.

"Misa-san, are you all right?"

The idol looked up, finding out that she was looking into the unforgettably pale face of Ryuuga, who had materialized in front of her without as much as an apology after vanishing for three whole weeks. Misa immediately jumped to her feet, not even swaying on her high heels.

"Where have you been?" she shrieked, almost like an overbearing wife. "I haven't seen you at school for at least three weeks!"

He didn't even bother removing the thumb from his mouth as he apologized; or rather, explained himself. "Work has been busy, I'm afraid and work takes precedence to school at times. But you look… upset." he noted, taking in her whole attire with a positively perverted glance.

Misa folded her arms and turned away with a scandalized expression. "Ryuuga-san is a pervert!" she declared immediately and _loudly_.

"You have an eighty-three percent chance of attracting attention even in your usual clothing, Misa-san." Ryuuga commented, remembering how easy it was to pick her out of the crowd only because of her blonde hair. "Your current attire has raised the probability to almost…" Again, his eyes swept her figure and Misa felt positively naked and disgusted, so she sat back down on the bench in a vain effort to conceal whatever her outfit failed to reveal.

"Misa doesn't want to hear it." she grumbled, giving him a look that dared him to finish that sentence.

"I'm thankful for that." the detective noted with a small smile, thankfully looking back into her eyes. "I have yet to say that something has a probability higher than ninety-five percent."

"There's a first time for everything. Even Misa getting humiliated!" Her voice broke slightly and Misa wiped her eyes immediately. She wasn't certain about a lot of things, but the secrecy of any kind of confession to Ryuuga wasn't one of them. "It was horrible! I thought Kiyomi-chan was finally being nice to Misa and invited me to this party, but she said it was a costume party!"

"That explains your attire, I suppose." Ryuuga might as well have been commenting a change in the weather, but Misa was slightly hurt by this indifference to her problems.

"And Light… Light doesn't even think I'll last the semester!" she wailed, not even listening anymore. She just needed to get all this out of her system. "Misa will never be good enough for him!"

"Well, Misa-san, Yagami-kun is actually right." He certainly wasn't pulling any punches, even when it was appropriate. Misa was forced to wonder how anyone could be this inconsiderate. "If you continue working as you have been up till now, there is a good chance that you will not make it."

"But Misa doesn't care about school! All I care about is Light-"

Ryuuga blinked thoughtfully. "Misa-san, I could be mistaken, but whenever Yagami-kun is in question, your IQ drops by a margin of forty percent, perhaps more." he commented, as if this was some life-changing announcement. Whenever Light appeared, Misa-Misa surfaced and Misa-san vanished into the depths of the unknown.

The idol scrunched up her face and hit L on the forearm with her tiny fist. "Ryuuga-san is being mean again! Misa doesn't need this!" She stood up, shivering slightly and proceeded to stalk away in what she hoped was a dignified fashion.

"Misa-san needs to study, that is all." Ryuuga called after her, making the model stop, turn around and put her hands on her hips. It was far from an intimidating sight.

"You think I have time for studying?" Misa asked angrily, as if he had no chance of understanding her problems in the least. "My schedule is full with important photo shoots! It's a miracle I manage to get to lessons!"

Ryuuga shrugged faintly before walking towards her in a strangely hunched fashion. The model was forced to wonder if it didn't hurt his back, being all slouched like that. Arthritis was hardly painless. "Then you must choose what is more important: impressing Yagami-kun or your career, Misa-san."

"Light is everything to Misa. I loved him ever since I first saw him." the model said, almost tearfully. But she was determined. "I will do anything to get him back!"

"Then you must rearrange your priorities and open your books." He was being logical and merciless and so right, which was a combination Misa disliked intensely. But she had to concede his point; she hadn't studied at all.

Swallowing her pride, Misa decided to be humble for a moment. As a fan, there wasn't much chance that he would refuse, even though Misa couldn't calculate percentages so easily.

"Will… would Ryuuga-san help Misa study? Please?" she added hopefully. She was willing to bribe him with an autograph if necessary. Weird though he might be at times, Ryuuga was obviously a brilliant student, meaning exactly what she needed.

"My schedule is very tight, Misa-san, and my work is my top priority." Apparently, he was also a hypocrite. Or perhaps he wasn't; people who were naturally smart likely didn't have to study. "You will have to study on your own."

"Fine! Misa will show you both that she can do this!" the idol huffed, turning on her heel and walking away again.

She remembered her phone an hour later and found herself searching the internet for the possibility of pictures of her in her costume appearing somewhere online before the dreaded photo shoot. That she seemed to find none earned Ryuuga some negligent points in her eyes – or rather, erased some of the bad ones.

This was before she considered that other already taken photos on that phone were up for grabs somewhere away from her.


	4. Legally Friends

_**EDIT: **_Rewrite as of 2011.

People who have been watching the romance category label like sharks: you likely know how things turn out in the movie. All I can say is, this will turn out progressively more DN-esque as things move forward. That being said, be certain that eventually, Misa might figure out a few things and get seriously mad about being kept in the dark. Perhaps Rem will also make an appearance sometime soon, who knows? This chapter is mostly dedicated to L/Misa shippers in any and every shape and form.

All I can say is, read and review!

**o.O.o**

**Legally****Friends**

**o.O.o**

"...and so the detention was fully justified by the law of the country the trial had taken place in." Light finished in his classroom voice, which was the perfect blend between politeness and authority.

It was nearing the end of November and the tabloids were no longer entirely so full of stories about Misa-Misa, who had decided to trade her smiles and coy winks for frowns and law books. The first wind had passed; she was beginning to fade into the background. Other idols were beginning to usurp her position as the top model of Japan and yet the perky blonde didn't seem to be fighting back too fervently. She got out of touch with most of her friends and spent her evenings pouring through her textbooks, reading them word for word and checking the meaning of phrases she didn't understand in a dictionary.

It was hard, unrewarding work, but Misa was beginning to understand things that she had never thought she could before. For example, that lawyers might be sharks, but sharks that watched the other predators in the water of legislative and that were necessary for society to keep running. Her world before had been small before – modeling and smiling all the time. But she was beginning to realize that there was so much more to things than that.

Misora-san nodded, not at all surprised by the brilliant answer to the question. Their key suspect, Yagami Light, was the picture of a model student.

"Excellent work, Yagami-san. Under those conditions…" But strangely, a lone hand in the front row rose uncertainly, ignoring the questioning looks of the glance. Naomi herself was surprised, but decided to see where this was going. "Yes, Amane-san?"

Misa swallowed before she started speaking. She was taking extra care with her grammar and diction nowadays, so that she could be taken seriously as a law student. Misa-Misa's cutesy speech had no place in the classroom. And she was here to be serious, not cute.

"Excuse me, Misora-sensei, but I had believed that if an indictable offence is committed, the Review Officer must make two reviews at first before the thirty-six hour detention can be justified. Otherwise, the detention could be considered a…" She knew this, she _knew this._ "A breach of basic human rights?"

There was a deafening silence in the classroom, as if no one could even believe that idol Misa-Misa had said such a complex sentence that actually made sense. Misora-san nodded again, hiding her surprise more thoroughly. "I see your point, Amane-san."

"And under that circumstance, it becomes clear that the investigation isn't thorough and diligent, which questions the very nature of the investigation." Misa continued, encouraged by this success. Though Light made an excellent point, he had forgotten the basic rules of this law. "By this logic, the defendant might charge the detention facility on two counts."

"Amane-san, I believe you're just filed two charges against the state and successfully represented your client on both counts."

Misora-sensei didn't really smile, but somehow, it felt like a commendation. The entire classroom was staring at Misa as if she had sprouted wings. Only Light was glancing thoughtfully at his textbook. First L reveals himself to him openly at their admissions ceremony, and then he finds Misa outmatching him in a classroom discussion. He didn't dare look out a window, lest he see a pig fly – or, more likely Ryuuk, who was on the prowl for apples, snicker at him.

" Now, if we are to consider…"

Misa was dazed for the remaining half hour of class. She had outmatched Light on the forum. Misora-sensei had commended her instead of throwing her out of the classroom. All this seemed so surreal that she hardly believed it, much less so when she was leaving class as one of the last students and the professor approached her with an approving nod.

"Excellent work in class today, Amane-san. You have improved drastically." Misora-sensei commented, seemingly pleased. Though the idol still dressed in her signature style, her behavior in class had improved significantly. She was obviously putting an effort into things now.

Misa literally beamed at her teacher. "Thank you very much, Misora-sensei! Misa-" Immediately, she caught her rush of joy and corrected herself. "I hope I will be able to continue improving."

"That is an admirable goal." Misora-sensei tilted her head slightly. While it was improbable that the idea would actually turn out to be real, she felt like asking about the ambitions of the young girl. "Have you considered applying for the chance to join the Kira Investigation Team?"

"I wasn't aware that there was the opportunity to do so… that these weren't just rumors." Misa noted, still taking care not to slip into her Misa-Misa persona while speaking to a teacher.

"Well, in case the petition of the student council passes and I receive any information, I will certainly put your name forward for consideration."

The blonde hardly believed her ears and bowed immediately before practically bouncing away. "Thank you, Misora-sensei!"

Misora-sensei shook her head slightly while watching the girl dash off. The world was just filled with paradoxes.

**o.O.o**

During lunch break, Misa deliberately searched for Ryuuga, who was likely lurking around campus somewhere. Not that they were friends or anything – she was still sore about his refusal to help her and his insistence at simply criticizing her to her face. But he was the only one on campus who didn't either hate her because she stood in their way or coo at her because of all they saw her as.

She bought them both some low-fat sandwiches and, against her better judgment, a sweet bun for Ryuuga, which counted as a cake with icing for her. Her expectations weren't denied when she found him and a supply of sweets that she wouldn't have been able to consume in a year, much less a day, reading a book of some sort and generally being a nuisance.

Without fault, his black eyes rose once she got within detection radius and the idol received an approving nod, especially when she handed him the pastry with a smile.

"Misa-san." The pastry got more of a smile than she did, though. Still, it didn't put her mood out entirely. "You look happy."

"Misa is! Misora-sensei said that Misa has improved very much!" the blonde noted, sitting down next to Ryuuga. Somehow, it didn't bother her that much now that he was just plain weird; she didn't even care that they would be seen in public together. A fan was a fan and she was very happy now. "Misa beat Light-kun in a class discussion today!"

"Congratulations, Misa-san." It was slightly difficult to make out the words amidst the crack of a chocolate bar breaking, which made Misa frown.

"Ryuuga-san, you shouldn't eat that much sugar! You might get diabetes! Misa wouldn't want you to get sick!"

"I am perfectly fine, Misa-san, though I appreciate the concern." Ryuuga noted dismissively, fingers twiddling excitedly as he chose another ridiculously sugary food to consume from among his healthy supply. He picked up the candy as if it were made of glass and ate it with utmost care. Misa could only shake her head and accept it as his weird quirk.

She didn't have to like it, though.

By then, most of the people around had noticed them and a group of girls began whispered excitedly to on another before one of them timidly approached the idol.

"Hi Misa-Misa! My name is Ran and… um, wouldn't you… would you like to come sit with us?" she asked, hiding her shyness with an air of obviously fabricated confidence and a bright smile. Her friends waved at Misa, holding several fashion magazines. "We'd totally appreciate your opinion on this new cosmetics catalogue!"

"Maybe later. Misa managed to catch Ryuuga-san at last, so she wants to talk to him for now." Misa said brightly, hitting Ryuuga on the arm with the nearest law book she had to stop him from reaching for another pastry. It didn't stop him, though. "She will stop by later, Ran-chan!"

"Oh, okay." The girl blinked, surprised, glancing from Misa to her companion. They seemed thoroughly at odds with each other, polar opposites. "I didn't know you guys were… I mean…"

Misa laughed merrily, hiding the scream of _What?__!_ that her mind produced with effortless elegance. She obviously needed to clarify things.

"Silly Ran-chan! Of course Ryuuga-san is Misa's friend. Later, then!" As the girl nodded and walked away to gossip with her friends about this new and shocking development, Misa noticed that the hand she had been beating on went still. "Huh, what is it, Ryuuga-san?"

The detective had a slightly vacant, distant expression on his face, though he wasn't reminiscing. "This is the first time someone called me their friend." he noted with odd sincerity, finally plopping the candy into his mouth.

"Eh?" Misa responded intelligently, startled. He was around her age, surely-

On second thought, Misa could understand that. Upon first glance, Ryuuga really seemed like a sociopath and his visage wasn't appealing, but she couldn't imagine someone without a friend for so long. She knew by now that he was older than her by a margin or six years and that he attended To-Oh for "professional reasons", but still…

"That's just because Ryuuga-san is too perverted for most people! Misa can put up with it, though." the model added, seeking to cheer him up.

"Indeed?" Ryuuga asked mildly, reorganizing his sugar cubes.

Stacking them was another habit of his Misa didn't fully understand, but she knew better than to question it. She might beat Light in a classroom debate on a technicality, but whenever she tried to do the same with Ryuuga, he came up with an argument that gave her a headache.

"Uh-huh! Because Ryuuga-san gives good advice." Well, really obvious advice, but she was in a good mood – so what? She could afford to be lenient. "Still, you could use a makeover…" The model gasped slightly, getting an idea. It didn't seem to startle Ryuuga, but he certainly had cause to fear if he knew what it was. "Misa knows!"

"What is it?"

"Misa wants to thank Ryuuga-san for cheering her up and being a good friend!" Misa proclaimed, already seeing the results of her plan in a mind's eye. "She has a plan, but she isn't telling! Why are you smiling like that? Misa thinks it's weird."

"You said that I am your friend again." he commented, as if he had just had a revelation. He had a slightly dazed expression that people usually associated with daydreaming. "That sounds nice."

"Ryuuga-san is weird." Misa proclaimed, whacking him over the head with a book lightly, much to the detective's surprise, before laughing at his stumped expression.

She found she actually enjoyed these weird encounters they seemed to have. And she did consider the strange Ryuuga her friend, as in the oddball necessary in every group to make the others seem normal in comparison. Still, it was a better friend than those few from the business who didn't seem to understand why she didn't just quit after her first failure or remind the university that this was Misa-Misa they were dealing with, which wouldn't solve her problem at all.

From the moment she stepped into the building, she reminded herself that she wasn't Misa-Misa here.

"Ryuuga-san better not disappear on Misa again!" Misa threatened, waving a reproaching finger at her companion once they were walking through campus; Ryuuga had announced that he needed to get to work before he was missed and Misa offered to escort him, much to his amusement.

When he was slouched like that, they were almost of the same height. They were certainly an odd pair, with Misa dressed so trendily and smiling so brightly and the detective wearing clothes that might as well have been his for years and thoughtfully sucking on his thumb.

"I don't believe I have much control over my own schedule, Misa-san." he noted, calculating the high probability of Misa getting upset about that. Again, he was proven right, but at least the model didn't use her textbook to maim him any further.

"Misa will cry if Ryuuga-san doesn't come!" Misa threatened, nudging him slightly to make him pay attention. She wouldn't dream of trying to fish his hand out of his pocket and hold it while they were walking side by side, but she didn't mind pestering him for fun. "She'll start nasty rumors about Ryuuga-san and completely ruin his top student reputation!"

"When have we established that I care about whatever reputation I could ruin, Misa-san?" Ryuuga asked, thoughtfully chewing on his thumb.

The model stuck out of tongue for a moment, unable to come up with a better response. Then, she sighed slightly and managed to make a serious face. "Just come back to school. Misa would miss Ryuuga-san. A bit." she added quickly.

Ryuuga blinked, but didn't look at her – something seemed to have caught his attention. "I will try to keep that in mind."

Misa looked in the general direction the boy's eyes had strayed and found herself goggling at an old-fashioned limousine with a distinct Western feeling to it (or at least how Misa perceived Western styles from her time on TV). It came complete with an elderly chauffeur, who left the car and opened the door with a respectful glance towards Ryuuga, who didn't seem at all surprised by this. Misa was thoroughly flabbergasted. She had judged Ryuuga by his clothes, which suggested a lower middle-class family, certainly not this. Even she couldn't afford such luxury and she was one of Japan's icons.

"Wow… Misa didn't know Ryuuga-san was rich!" Then she frowned and put her hands on her narrow hips in righteous indignation. She didn't like being kept in the dark, but it just reminded her of how little she knew about Ryuuga as a person. "Hey, you should return Misa's phone, then."

Large black eyes found hers and Misa could almost swear that she saw childish glee twisted into perversion in that single glance. "You have very kindly loaned it to me; I shall have to take advantage of your generosity this time, Misa-san." Ryuuga proclaimed seriously, fishing out her phone from his pocket and raising it above her reach in a delicate two-fingered grip before she could reach for it.

"Ryuuga-san is being mean and weird again!" Misa cried, jumping up and down to reach it and failing. Part of her was resolved to start a tickle war right then and there, but she decided to let it slide just this once. "You are fortunate that Misa is in a good mood today, or she would sue you for theft!"

"You seem to have found a new enthusiasm for a career in law Ryuuga commented, observing the petite blonde carefully. She had always had a presence that demanded attention, but now, she seemed slightly less wild and more focused in her aggressions. She had found a way to channel her own superior energy into focus. That was a great step forward to her.

"Uh-huh! Misa likes helping people and…" the model trailed off for a moment, as if uncertain how to continue. Then, she bounced a bit on her heels, finding her point again. It made L wonder how come someone who consumed so little sugar could have this much energy. "Well, this can make a difference! Not just for Misa, but for everyone! Maybe Misa can use her popularity to bring attention to more important things than lip gloss flavors… right?"

Not that she believed it entirely, but it was something to think about. Misa desperately needed to latch onto something that would allow her to justify her lack of success in winning back her true love. And if she acted well enough, she could hopefully convince herself.

It certainly gave L something to ponder while riding back to the headquarters – it was nice to take a break from considering every angle of the Kira case every minute of the day. Misa's reason for being there was obvious, but she put Light off-balance, if only a little. If she were to completely refocus, it would be somewhat inconvenient for him for actual legitimate investigation-related reasons. And having some measure of contact with her – though only enough to ensure that Light didn't see them together too often – would ensure that he had more control over her while steering her unpredictability towards the other side of the chessboard.

Petty, of course, but L had never claimed to be the most honorable and mature detective on earth.

"Ryuuzaki, pardon me for saying this, but I don't understand why you're wasting your time on that girl." Watari noted as they took a turn away from the university. He honestly didn't understand the girl-child's appeal beyond the obvious, and his would-be-ward's general disposition would have usually allowed him to overlook such things after less than a moment's observation. "I understand that you admire her work, but she isn't involved with the case at all. Wouldn't it be better to focus entirely on Yagami-kun?"

"I think she has potential, Watari." L noted, knowing that an explanation was necessary this time. Watari had cause for concern, even though it wasn't really his business at all. Better that he be assured of the truth now than let him find the photos of Misa L browsed on his laptop in the few minutes a day he had tagged reserved for sleep. "Besides, it's hardly appropriate to say that she isn't involved; as Yagami-kun's ex-girlfriend, she must have some insight into his character. She might not be directly involved, but she is an unfamiliar element on the playing field. Yagami-kun wasn't expecting her to reenter his life in this fashion."

"You are planning to use her? She doesn't seem to be cut for the kind of work we could use her for." Watari noted, his frown visible only in the overhead mirror of the car.

"That would be risky both to me and to Misa-san." L explained, chewing on his thumb thoughtfully. He didn't really know why he needed to justify Misa's role in his plans to anyone. But he refused to heed any objections to her presence simply because she wasn't useful. So he decided to make her useful and label her an official part of the plan. "She is an unpredictable piece, because she doesn't belong to either side. Her actions are difficult for me or Yagami-kun to anticipate. And that could work to my advantage."

"So you support her to keep her where she is and keep Yagami-kun off-balance."

"Partly." L confirmed, glancing out of the window for the first time during their rides through Tokyo. There was a large poster of Misa in an advertisement about lip gloss. The image almost brought out a smile of the detective, but it wasn't nearly enough. It was the memory of what she had said combined with the image that caused the corners of his mouth to twinge upwards for a moment or so. "She called me her friend today…" he murmured softly, trailing off.

He certainly wasn't one to daydream, but L certainly hoped that having Amane Misa officially say that they were friends wasn't a sign from some kind of deity that he had used up all the good fortune meant for a single person.

As that was something that wouldn't be wise to condemn or support, Watari chose not to reply to that wistful statement of his employer, employee and responsibility all in one. Usually, only a large birthday cake could manage to produce such results. Having that list expand wasn't much of a relief.

To think that the world's most brilliant mind could be turned from a calculative and cunning crime-solving instrument into a human boy who was set completely off-balance by meeting a girl. Kira obviously wasn't god; he didn't have that kind of sense of humor.


	5. Legally Much Better

_**Update: **__ Rewrite as of 2011._

To the reviewer who asked: L is exactly as he is in the original DN manga, with every detail. Only Misa has a different story here. Aside from that, nothing new to say – nothing here is mine, save for the crossover idea, so please don't sue!

**o.O.o**

**Legally Much Better**

**o.O.o**

In a way, Naomi supposed she had been expecting the phone call.

After all, she was a woman on a mission, not just a simple university professor at the current moment. And the prime suspect of their case was currently in her class, as far as she was aware. The rumors also served as a great cover-up for their own intentions. It was the perfect plan; the true irony of the matter was that it wasn't them who had come up with it. It was the imagination of the students and their hopes and dreams that had formed it.

She was expecting something for certain when she saw a private, untraceable number as her caller. "Hello?"

Nevertheless, it was always very odd to hear the strange voice twisted by computers and rendered inhuman, emotionless. It always sent a shiver down anyone's spine; Naomi was no exception.

"Greetings, Misora-san. This is L."

The former FBI agent tensed a bit. It was the first time the detective had contacted her personally since the start of the investigation – she had mostly dealt with Watari. However, she had no problem with immediately posing the answer to the routine question.

"I have nothing new to report yet." she announced without any kind of pretext. While he was many things, L certainly wasn't one to be too concerned with needless formalities. "I haven't seen any unusual behavior from the suspect, other than good academic standards."

"I understand." L's mechanical voice said, without surprise, disappointment or irritation. It was one of the things that made him seem inhuman at first; his capabilities, which were revealed to most people later on, overshadowed that over time. "However, I believe that we should change our plan of action slightly. Listen carefully, Misora-san."

It would have seemed ludicrous to the experienced investigator if she didn't share the detective's opinion on this; it was the prefect plan, ready-made for them to use.

She received the list of candidates immediately – L had obviously planned every single detail – and printed it out the moment she hung up the phone. Four names; enough to make it seem as if the team was truly chosen based on their capabilities. Evenly split; their suspect, Yagami Light, was the first name on the list, naturally. All of the others were familiar to her at least in vague memory. However, Naomi went a bit further in her investigation – and she supposed that L had to have realized this – and immediately assumed that there was a good chance that the other male name on the list was L himself.

Or some associate's, if he wasn't truly up to such field work himself. Naomi was one of the few people who actually knew what he looked like – or hoped she did, anyway, if it truly had been him – but hadn't seen him yet in her class or anywhere around campus. Still, she could imagine even the extremely careful detective going into the field for this caliber of a case.

That strategy made sense to her as well; giving the group a belief that they were working with L while the detective was actually amongst them. Thus when she entered the large classroom the next day, having told the news to the school board (and gotten an applause for _persuading_ L to go through with this), she was in generally high spirits. She could imagine how the students would react – she knew that if she wasn't in on the joke, so to speak, she would have celebrated to be in their shoes.

The class fell silent upon seeing her; while she wasn't exactly smiling, seeing Misora-sensei in a good mood usually signified some kind of exam.

"Well, people, I am fully aware of the recent circulation of rumors regarding the K.I.T. or the Kira Investigation Team that have surfaced throughout the student body."

Everybody went completely still; Misora-sensei wasn't one to speak of rumors much, particularly after the first lesson when she had confirmed her former job as an investigator. That meant that this had to be significant.

"These fictions are the product of wishful thinking of several of our more imaginative students… or they were, until yesterday."

The silence was deafening. In the front row, Misa blinked, surprised with what she was hearing. Misora-sensei must have been contacted by L personally, she concluded quickly. That meant that-

"I have been given clearance to give you the information that I received yesterday. A request has arisen for an experiment to remind the public that we are fighting against a criminal here, not a savior of humanity."

Everyone knew it was from L, of course. It had to be. She raised a paper with four imprinted names and the usual old-style printed L that the detective used as a signature. That meant that it was real.

"Four names from the whole university have been selected to form a team that will be in contact with the investigators, spreading the message of the case to the public."

A hand shot up and the professor nodded towards the girl who had a question. "Misora-sensei, why only four students?"

"I have not been given the details of the decision-making, Kagoshima-san. You would have to ask L personally, which is something I cannot help you with." Naomi said lightly, causing some of the students to let out nervous laughs. "The list will be posted in the main hall during lunch break. Congratulations to the chosen few in advance. Instructions will get to you. You can be quite certain of that."

**o.O.o**

"…just four names from among thousands of students, the chance is very small…"

No one could focus on the lessons afterwards, especially not Misa. She knew she had absolutely no hope of making it to the investigation team, but ever since she caught Ryuuga sitting at the back of their class one day, discovering that they shared some courses, she insisted on dragging him around the campus whenever either of them needed something.

It was practically a routine for Misa now and she learned that she enjoyed this multitasking. Every morning, she would get up, at times woken by a phone call from Ryuuga, which usually signified he was coming to school with her. Then, as was courteous, she would be picked up by the very same limousine she had seen before and drove off to the university along with Ryuuga, who would still be munching on some sweets. Misa would attempt to preach about a healthy diet until she's lose patience and either scream or hit him.

Once they left the car, Misa would drag him to their next class, buy food for them and generally poke her nose into everything Ryuuga did and be a general nuisance. Ryuuga would permit this for some reason and compensate whatever irritation he possibly felt by watching Misa "like a pervert", as the idol would cry out at times when she was upset and try to maim him with a textbook again.

But she much preferred this to the days when Ryuuga didn't show up at all, off 'working', as he said, when she had to sit with other people or alone, laughing quietly at jokes that didn't seem that funny to her and pouring over her textbooks. She felt strangely lonely when she didn't have someone to balance her energy and provide a countermeasure to her outbursts.

Today, however, was different from that.

Misa, dressed in the lightest gothic Lolita style clothing she could find in her closet, composed of a black tank top and a tartan kilt-like skirt, waited up for Ryuuga to slouch his way out of the classroom before practically latching on to him and prodding him to come and see the list.

"Ryuuga-san, aren't you going to get a look at the list?" she asked, trying to be subtle about this at first.

Someone as brilliant as him must have gotten it – after all, he and Light had had matching perfect scores at their admissions tests, as she had learned some time ago. It made her feel a bit sorry that she had missed the initiation ceremony at the university. It would have been fun to see the immaculately dressed Light standing next to a scruffy Ryuuga, delivering a serious speech.

"I wasn't aware that you were interested in such things, Misa-san." Ryuuga noted, sucking on a lollipop. Misa had given up on buying him non-sweet food; she was even getting used to this strange quirk of his. It had ceased to irritate her some time ago.

"Misa knows she doesn't have a chance, but Ryuuga-san might have gotten the internship!" The idol scrunched up her face slightly, trying to work the math quickly. "Misa thinks there is a… ninety-two percent chance that Ryuuga-san got it!"

Ryuuga almost stopped in his tracks, giving her a curiously amused glance. "You shouldn't belittle yourself, Misa-san. You have made admirable progress yourself. You have as much of a chance of getting a place there as anyone."

He didn't comment on what percentage he believed it was; Misa took this as a good sign.

"We should go check!"

After a longer time of being seen together on campus, Misa disregarded whatever attention such an action might raise and grabbed Ryuuga's hand as he tossed the remains of the lollipop into the nearest bin, dragging him towards the main hall, where the announcement was to be posted.

At first, a strange tension passed through L's arm, partly because of the surprisingly tight grip the petite model managed to exert. His feet were barely keeping up with her sprint and so, almost slowly, his hand closed around Misa's small one, both to maintain speed and balance and to not be dragged around so much. It was a strange feeling; no one but Watari had ever led him by the hand, and even only when he had been a little boy. Perhaps it was because Misa was almost forcing him to straighten up only slightly that the sensation didn't seem so unpleasant.

L was a control freak at the worst of times, for certain. And here he was, being pulled around by a chirpy young girl, as if she were a child who had spotted an ice cream parlor and he the tired, huffing parent struggling to catch up with her. When Amane Misa was in question, it seemed his famed logic and reasoning left him, because he most certainly wouldn't have allowed anyone else to reduce him to this.

Of course, it was also a rather effective cover he didn't have to work very hard to maintain.

Amane Misa was holding his hand without the slightest hesitation, as if they truly were only two students, friends. Friends… Misa kept repeating the word more and more nowadays, nonchalantly. But it was so much more to L, who was thoroughly unused to this concept. Perhaps that was why he always managed to convince himself that the moves he was making in the Kira investigation were for the good of things.

By the time Misa let go of his hand in front of the crowd that was circling the place where the paper was put on display, L allowed himself to blend into the background. He, of course, knew precisely what was on that list, which was why he had little interest in it. Nevertheless, he frowned and began chewing on his thumb as he did whenever in deep thought – Misa believed it was because of the large crowd.

In truth, it was because the detective came to the conclusion that in the past few minutes, the chances of him possibly falling in love with Amane Misa had risen by at least three percent. The resulting number was nothing if not worrying.

Misa noticed his unease – Ryuuga always seemed to get a little weird around crowds – and almost felt a twinge of regret at forcing him to come at once. She even wanted to suggest that they might come in an hour or so or perhaps even the next day, but before that, a familiar and annoying scream surfaced from above the crowds. The model's eyes narrowed and she felt a flush of anger reach her cheeks as Takada Kiyomi fought her way through the crowd, away from the paper…

… straight towards Light, who had just arrived, looking mildly disinterested in things. He didn't spare Misa a glance, but the model could almost swear he glanced at Ryuuga rather strangely before turning his attention to the twit that was his girlfriend. Misa encountered Light talking to Ryuuga at times, but somehow, she didn't get the feeling they were friends in the true sense of the word. That was simply the best way to define their relationship without actually giving it a label.

"Light! LIGHT! We got it!" Takada screamed joyfully, launching herself at Light. The boy tensed slightly as she tackled him and only half-heartedly put his arms around her for the briefest moment. "We got the internship! We're on the Kira Investigation Team!" Takada announced, not surprising anyone in the hall.

"That is wonderful, indeed."

There was a strange stiffness to Light's tone that only Misa and Ryuuga noticed, both for different reasons. The former didn't really know what it meant, but hoped that it might signify that he wasn't satisfied with Takada. Misa almost wanted to rush in and congratulate Light, but he didn't as much as look at her and then…

"There is only one thing that could make this day more fortunate. Kiyomi-san… will you marry me?"

Misa froze as the student body fell deathly silent as their top student produced a ring that the model knew had belonged to his grandmother and dropped to one knee in front of his girlfriend. It was as if someone had dropped Misa into a pool of icy water. L was watching this with mild interest, this turn of events raising the suspicion that Light might be Kira by a margin. It might seem romantic to others, but to him, it was more like buying off one of the investigation team members.

Takada paled for a moment, but then smiled brilliantly, tossing Misa a triumphant glance and accepted the ring.

"Yes! Yes, of course I will!" she proclaimed immediately, kissing him.

L waved a hand in front of Misa's frozen face, but the model didn't even blink. He supposed he should have warned her that something like this might happen eventually, but it would have appeared suspicious if he knew. He felt a bit sorry for the model, because the chances that she would quit the course after this were relatively high. It was a selfish notion to try and persuade her, but then again, he had already dealt with that possibility.

"Both freshman representatives got it, plus Miss To-Oh." someone commented as the crowds began to relax, gossip and clear the path. A bundle of girls grouped around Takada and Light, admiring the ring and congratulating them both.

"I guess that was to be expected, huh?" another student noted, glancing at Light and L briefly, shaking his head.

"That just leaves one, then…"

"Misa-san…" L decided to wave a candy bar in front of the blonde's face – that would normally get a reaction – but it didn't. "Misa-san…?"

It almost hurt to see her so let down. She seemed to be on the verge of tears; Misa-Misa would have certainly broken down by this point. But Misa-san was holding on, if only barely.

"All this time, Misa… M- _I_ thought that if I… that Light would come to respect my mind and that if Misa changed, that…" She shut her eyes, refusing to do anything but hold her head high. "It doesn't matter now."

As a model, she knew when someone was watching her and this time, it wasn't only Ryuuga. People wanted to see how she would react to this.

"Misa-san?"

Ryuuga, bless him, was looking at her with those protuberant unreadable eyes. For the first time, his glance didn't seem perverted or mysterious; he wasn't able to read her, Misa realized. He, who relied on percentages and probabilities, wasn't able to decide how she would react.

"Thank you for your help, Ryuuga-san, but I-"

"Whoa, check that out!" a girl yelled out, glancing at Misa in utter disbelief. The model blinked away her sadness, wondering what new humiliation might be bestowed upon her by some cruel kami.

"You shouldn't count your chickens before they have hatched, Misa-san." Ryuuga commented wisely, glancing at Light for the briefest second. It didn't seem to relate to the situation at all, but the model was used to Ryuuga saying and doing odd things all the time.

Misa blinked. Chickens? "Huh? Is Ryuuga-san being perverted again?"

"I meant that you should look at the-"

"Misa-san, congratulations!" Ran, the girl who had invited her to their table so long ago and was one of her quasi-friends now, rushed in to congratulate her and shake the bewildered model's hand. More people followed, practically shoving L into the background, not that the detective fought back much.

The model had absolutely no idea what was happening before someone else shouted out the news for the rest of the crowd. "Wow, look at that, Misa-Misa got the last spot!"

"You think L is a fan of hers?"

"Possibly, because I really don't get how come she'd get it otherwise…"

"Well, she did get much better in class, and…"

The model, who managed to find her way back to Ryuuga somehow, was completely dazed. As the detective was the most logical and rational person she knew, she looked at him immediately, as if he had all the answers. Which he did, in this case, but that didn't mean she knew it.

"It's… Misa?" she asked in a voice that sounded very small even to her.

With her wide eyes, she resembled a china doll now, timid and tiny. It was almost adorable and most photographers would likely forever regret not having the chance to see this and take a picture of it.

"Misa got picked for the internship?"

For a moment, Ryuuga straightened up ever so slightly to his rather impressive height and glanced at the list over her shoulder.

"I believe so."

He was giving her that faintly perverted smile that he usually didn't use when he was making his deadpan jokes that Misa usually didn't quite get, so she accepted this as a fact.

The blonde shut her eyes tightly. It couldn't be true. "Pinch Misa. She has to be dreaming."

Though a bit stumped by the request, L obeyed, pinching the model's uncovered forearm firmly, making her jump in annoyance more than pain.

"Ow! Ryuuga-san is a complete pervert!" she shrieked, beating on him as usual.

"But you asked…" L replied weakly, blocking her weak strikes with odd precision. He had never fought back before or defended himself, so Misa decided that it might just be the truth.

"Wait, wait! Misa has to look to make sure!" Covering her eyes with a hand, Misa turned to the board and, slowly, finger by finger, removed her hand. The list wasn't alphabetical, but she didn't care. Ryuuga Hideki… Yagami Light…Amane Misa… Takada Kiyomi… wait. Amane Misa. Amane Misa! The model let out a great shriek that almost shattered the nearest window. L almost stumbled back a step or two; it was truly a scream worthy of the title "sonic attack" "IT´S REALLY MISA´S NAME! I've done something right!"

The other students closed in around her with various degrees of enthusiasm in their congratulations as the model jumped up and down, as if she had consumed an overwhelming amount of sugar at once. Like this, she bounced off to Ryuuga, grinning like a lunatic all the way and practically dancing.

"We got the internship, Ryuuga-san! I feel so much better now! It's better than… anything!" the blonde exclaimed, unable to find a better comparison. "We'll be working together, isn't that great?"

She was jubilant, ecstatic… for a moment, she forgot that this actually meant that she would be working with Light and Takada. Right then, only the two other names on the list mattered to her.

"You seem really happy, Misa-san." L noted, watching her bounce up and down and wondering how long it would take her to suffer from the effects of seasickness.

It had been his decision, naturally, to put her on the team, a selfish manipulation meant to secure her presence in his life for just a little while longer (though her skills justified her place on the team as well now) and it was refreshing to see her so happy because of something he had given her, even though she would never know. And, of course, this would keep Light and Takada very much off-balance. That was a given.

"Of course I am! And thank you for being nice to me and helping me with this! Misa never forgets when someone helps her!"

In a fit of spontaneous joy, the idol jumped on Ryuuga and hugged him fiercely for several seconds. One would think he had saved her life and low wolf-whistles and girlish shrieks echoed around them when Misa kissed him on the cheek lightly, without any kind of thinking or regrets.

"Thank you!"

Bewildered by this action – something that not even his best math could have calculated with – L's eyes widened even more than usually, making them seem practically saucer-like and strengthening the resemblance to a raccoon like nothing did before. Only he noticed the faint tremor that passed through his own fingers when they touched the spot where Misa had kissed him.

"I-I'll fall in love with you?" he asked uncertainly, adding five percent to the probability of that occurrence in his mind, officially crossing the ninety-five percent line.

The model froze in a moment of shock. She had never supposed something like that could happen – Ryuuga was simply Ryuuga, someone who had a thoroughly odd place in her life. It would be odd to consider him from that angle.

"Misa… Misa could live with that." she said finally, grabbing his hand and making them both punch the air in a sign of victory. "Ryuuga-san is the best!"

"Did you guys see that?" one of Misa's fans asked, staring at the model with wide eyes.

"Eri-chan, are you all right?" One of the odder girls who had preferred L to Light at the initiation ceremony at To-Oh seemed to be ready to faint, even though her friend shook her lightly. "Eri-chan?"

Misa, enjoying her moment of having finally brought Ryuuga some true confusion and discomfort, excused herself for a moment and walked right up to Light and Takada, the latter being possessively latched onto the former's arm. She gave Light a brilliant smile, ignoring his fiancée completely.

"Oh, Light-kun! Remember when we spent those four amazing hours in the hot tub last spring?" she asked, slipping in the role of Misa-Misa effortlessly.

Feeling a dark glance from Takada, Light struggled a bit with the answer. "Ah…"

"Four hours?" Takada interrupted quickly, completely stumped.

"Uh-huh." Misa nodded sweetly, completely the icon from Misa-Misa's Happy Sweets for a few seconds. "Well, this is _so_ much better than that! Light-kun thought I was dumb, but I guess _somebody's_ judgment was poor!" the model emphasized, winking. Everyone else was watching in stunned silence as Misa waved to the disgruntled pair. "Excuse Misa – she has to go shopping!"

And with that, she bounced back to Ryuuga, grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out of the building with a happy tone to her footsteps.


	6. Legally Sweet

_**UPDATE: **_Rewrite as of 2011. Stretching plausibility in this chapter a little… do forgive that, please.

So many reviews for the last chapter… le gasp! Anyway, me likey! It's kinda hard to venture into the dark waters of L/Misa, but everyone needs their dose of that. The most difficult part is making it work from both sides without forcing it; after all, the characters are profoundly different from one another, though I think it could work better than Light/Misa, which is the weird master-willing slave canon relationship everybody loves to hate. One of the many reasons why Death Note is love.

This scene was very much inspired by a scene from the second act of the Legally Blonde musical, which I recommend just for its bouncy bubblegum-like tunes. As for the rest of the fic, I haven't yet decided if this is going to have a happy ending or if the L/Misa relationship will evolve beyond the point of no return (though I have high hopes for that). Rem will be making an appearance sometime soon, including (perhaps) the shinigami eyes. Who knows? No spoilers just yet!

Read and review, please!

**o.O.o**

**Legally Sweet**

**o.O.o**

Due to his large eyes, it was not a scarce sight for L to be staring. However, when he and Misa entered the building the model had dragged him off to, even the seasoned detective couldn't help blinking.

"What is this place?" he asked distrustfully, despite already knowing the answer. Trust the model to celebrate her small victory by something like this.

The perky blonde grinned toothily at his stupefied expression, though she apparently knew that the question was highly redundant. Nevertheless, she went for the dramatic effect.

"It's called… a department store!" she whispered, inhaling the air of the nearest corridor deeply.

It was actually midday, so there weren't too many people around shopping – everyone was at school or work. Of course, for a ridiculously enormous city like Tokyo, not too many people meant a decent-sized crowd. Almost no one recognized Misa-Misa, for good or ill, since she was wearing rather normal clothes today, with only hints of her usual style visible in the color of her tank top and leggings. Her hair was back in the usual high pigtails she seemed to adore and she wore a few more pieces of cross-shaped jewelry than she usually would.

For Misa, that was casual clothing.

Of course, there was nothing casual about this for L, who had gotten used to campus life itself with some difficulty. Generally, no one paid much attention to him – after all, the cliques of friends were usually so self-immersed that one strange-looking student in the masses wasn't worth that much effort – but his long-term association with Misa was bringing him some degree of recognition. Not that he was recognized without her, no. But having her drag him out of the environment of the university, where he was almost comfortable, to the open; that was a bit unfair. It was a necessary sacrifice, on his part, of course. But still.

Besides, department stores were the kind of place where an idol like Misa could get picked out from the crowd, thus making it more difficult to keep his identity a secret. If anyone from the press saw them together like this, he wouldn't be just the nerd-like friend the famous Misa-Misa was taking pity on at school. And L was very much aware of the high probability of deep digging in case someone from the press came to the conclusion that they were too friendly.

Not that that had much of a chance at being more than a laughable concept and daydream, but still… tabloids were tabloids.

"Misa-san, I don't really think this is a good idea." the detective noted, instinctively glancing around. He didn't like this place. True, he didn't like most public places, but this was in the bottom five, most definitely. The model, ignorant as she was to her companion's identity, had practically no chance of understanding his reasons for this attitude.

"Of course it is! Misa only has good ideas!" the blonde scoffed, but she was being borderline jubilant. "Besides, you don't even know what kind of idea she has! Ryuuga-san has no right to object without a good cause!

"But Misa-san…"

The petite blonde scowled at L and folded her arms in a comically threatening manner, though it was obvious that she was being fully serious.

"Give Misa one good reason why she cannot be here with Ryuuga-san." she challenged, insisting on being stubborn.

If it was to be a reason that made her reconsider this trip, then it had to be one that concerned her. The answer was obvious, really.

"What about the paparazzi that might follow you here?" L asked, quite logically. "If they take a picture of us together, your chances with Light-kun might drop by a few percent."

Even though much of the hype about Misa-Misa had faded into the background, the detective could easily calculate that if the reporters found out about her involvement in the Kira investigation (however superficial) Misa-Misa would be the stuff of headlines again.

"Ryuuga-san is being perverted again!" the model wailed, but took no other action against him. "Besides, nothing of the sort will happen – Misa is certain of that. Everyone knows we are best friends!" she clarified, as if that was an obvious thing. She was still a little surprised about anyone being able to think that she and Ryuuga could be anything else; they were friends. Odd friends, but good friends – when he wasn't perverted, Ryuuga was actually a nice person.

In a highly unconventional way.

"Best friends." L repeated in a somewhat puzzled manner, almost as if asking for confirmation – or, more likely, the moment Misa would snap out of it and laugh at her slip of the tongue.

Astonishingly, the model, already happy because of their surroundings, only nodded with contentment. "Uh-huh!"

"Best friends…" There was something very faraway in the tone of Ryuuga's voice when he connected those two words. Misa remembered well that he had told her that she was his first friend, but she had always thought that it might not be a fact. However, she had never encountered anyone who was so happy because of such a simple declaration.

She gave the detective a poke and a nudge, though it wasn't nearly as sharp as her usual elbow to the stomach.

"Ryuuga-san is spacing out on Misa! Snap out of it! Like this!" Misa suggested, snapping fingers on both of her hands, evidently pleased with her clever pun.

"How is that supposed to help, Misa-san?" L countered, clumsily repeating the motion without any real interest.

"What kind of prosecutor will Ryuuga-san be if he can't even snap his fingers properly!" Misa lamented, but some very, very small part of her was amused by this bumbling deficiency at normal and easy stuff Ryuuga seemed to have. Sure, he was a genius when it came to complex stuff Misa didn't have a clue about, but as for normal life… "Lawyers are high up on the food chain; they have to know how to snap fingers at their secretaries, no?"

Once more, the model proved clueless about the workings of society beyond her own very small world, a fact that didn't bother L as much as it should. The percentage of Misa being in any way involved in the Kira case was dropping steadily to low numbers. Nevertheless, there was a major flaw in her reasoning.

"Misa-san, I don't really believe that is relevant to the reason why we are in this place; a reason which is still unknown to me."

"Remember when Misa said she has a plan to thank Ryuuga-san?" L nodded slightly, careful now, as if he was with a raging psychopath. Misa did have the tendency to be bipolar whenever fancy struck her and whatever plan she had couldn't be good. With a shark-like smile, the model threw up her arms, pointing all around them. "This is it!"

This idea might have worked admirably well with the girls from their college. However, L, apart from being generally uncomfortable in crowds (though able to party conceal it) also failed to understand why people – girls and women in particular – placed so much value to the purchasing of items that were useless to them on the long run. Was there a comforting psychological effect to owning new things?

"I have no need for shopping, Misa-san."

"That's okay! Because _Misa_ is going shopping!" the model proclaimed, knowing that something like this would happen. After all, Ryuuga certainly wasn't one of those modern metrosexuals that knew their designers better than their other halves. "Ryuuga-san is only tagging along, because otherwise Misa might buy him something that doesn't fit!"

L's eyebrows rose just a fraction of an inch. "You intend to purchase clothing for me?"

Gifts, then. This had a high chance of becoming a war, as his sense of style was miles away from Misa's. And there was a high probability that the model would be offended if he refused to wear the garments – which he would.

"Possibly." Misa said vaguely, trying desperately to keep her happy grin off her face. He actually hadn't guessed the whole truth; new clothes were just part of her plan. For the first time, she was a step ahead of him. "Ryuuga-san wears the same things every day, which is kind of perverted. Misa likes variety. Plus, I think Ryuuga-san would look better in different colors."

"I have no preference when it comes to clothing as long as it's comfortable, Misa-san. And I don't wear the same thing every day." L objected, scratching his knee. He knew the concept of personal hygiene, thank you very much. And, unlike the concept of sleep, he also employed it.

Misa gave a thoughtful frowned. "Right. Name one day when you wore something other than a white shirt and jeans. Well?" she added, raising an eyebrow. There would be no objections to this perfect plan. Ryuuga would be turned into a fashionably presentable person. And then, he might actually get a girlfriend and be happy.

Because Misa wanted him to be happy. Especially if it was a double win for her; upon Ryuuga finding a girlfriend, no one would think they were together, laughable as it was.

Chewing on his thumb, L pondered the question for a few seconds.

"I like my clothes." His clothes were worn, but presentable; and it wasn't as if he went out to socialize every day. Besides, the outfit was comfortable and he _did_ have several versions of it, just so that Misa knew. It wasn't as if he had only one piece of each – it simply helped his reasoning, like his way of sitting. He was content with it to the degree that each t-shirt was an exact copy of the other.

"Well, Misa knows more about fashion than Ryuuga-san… I think!" the model said, trying to imagine a cake-eating Ryuuga in front of a TV, watching the latest fashion shows from Milan and Paris. Somehow, she couldn't quite picture it, but it was a funny notion.

"You are likely right about that." L noted, not really paying attention. Instead, carefully, he glanced to look where the CCTV cameras might be located. Department stores usually had them and the best bet now was likely to stick with the crowd, however much he might dislike that.

"And so when Misa says Ryuuga-san needs new stuff, it has to be true!" Misa concluded, feeling proud at having successfully won her case.

"Misa-san, I fail to see why that makes this a good idea…"

There were too many things at stake here, most of which Misa couldn't know. It was unfortunate, in a way; she would never find out the reasons for many things, just as it was likely that after the Kira case, they would never meet again and the model would be upset by this sudden breaking of all ties. Regrettable… but necessary.

Which was what Misa seemed to think about this whole shopping business.

"This is Misa's treat. Ryuuga-san has helped Misa much. The internship would have gone to someone else if Ryuuga-san didn't help Misa." the model explained with surprising thoughtfulness. By goading her, mostly, but anyway. "Even just by being perverted."

"I really don't need you to give me anything, Misa-san…" L noted, trailing off somewhat. Of course getting gifts was nice, in theory, but couldn't she just buy him a nice cake? That would be practically bliss for him. Besides, he really didn't want Misa to waste money on things like this, especially since her personal wealth was dwarfed by even a tenth of what he possessed.

"But Misa wants to! Please? Pretty please with lots and lots of sugar on top?" Misa added, playing on the one weakness she knew Ryuuga had. Sugar always succeeded in getting his attention and it was no different this time. He looked almost like a deer in highlights at the mention of sweets; make that a raccoon in highlights. "We can buy candy afterwards if Ryuuga-san really wants to…" she trailed off vaguely, seeing the interest spark in his eyes, even though he denied it.

"Resorting to blackmail is hardly a good tactic for a lawyer, Misa-san." L noted, though his childlike eagerness at the mention of sweets couldn't be denied. Contrary to what he was saying, her tactic was highly effective, especially when it came to making deals at court. However, he got the feeling that it might be best not to encourage this particular streak of Misa's cunning.

"…and cake." Misa continued, pretending she didn't hear anything. She was playing dirty, yes, but currently, she wasn't above offering him an appearance on Misa-Misa's Happy Sweets to get him to accept. He would refuse, of course; Ryuuga was painfully shy when it came to crowds. Strange. "With strawberry icing and sprinkled with chocolate chips."

There was some kind of internal battle going on inside Ryuuga, though it wasn't likely fierce enough to be called a war. Likely, he was analyzing the percentages of success and failure of both of the options presented to him. Misa was secretly proud that he had to think about it, because that usually meant that Ryuuga was being torn in two about something; not a common occurrence. Sucking on his thumb thoughtfully, L weighted the possibilities. Refusal would be preferred, for security reasons, but jeopardizing his friendship with Misa might be equally risky, due to the attention it would bring him.

"Does this make you happy, Misa-san?"

Having the model on his side was beginning to get more and more useful; if nothing else, putting her on the K.I.T. would keep Light off-balance. Misa, for all her good traits, could be rather annoying and pester a person until the end of the world. She was persistent and emotional, at times easily manipulated through the use of the right words, but all this was ideal for the investigation.

And they were best friends. A strange concept, especially to L. the detective wouldn't hesitate to turn her over to justice if Misa turned out to be an accomplice of Kira, but every day, the probability of this being just a hypothesis was rising. And every day, L felt the slightest bit happier about that.

"Uh-huh!" the blonde girl chirped contently, tasting victory. She felt the slightest bit bad about dragging Ryuuga into a situation he resented, but decided that she was doing this for his own good. Because they were friends, really. "Misa wants to make Ryuuga-san happy. If it really makes you that uncomfortable, though… we can just go to a clothing store outside the mall." she conceded. "This is supposed to be friendly bonding time, not uncomfortable time."

L looked around a bit to see if there was any candy store nearby; that would be the perfect way to get Misa distracted enough that she would forget her whole plan. However, no such store was nearby. Besides, he couldn't say that he had work to do, because they were technically still supposed to be in class at the current moment.

"That is a plausible suggestion. But we will be quick about this." he said after a moment of careful contemplation, almost immediately interrupted by a squeal from Misa and the model bouncing up and down a few times in victory.

"Yay! Don't worry, Misa knows how to get in quickly and get out sneakily!" Misa was beaming. "Besides, it's too early for shopping for most people! That's why Misa shops now!"

Actually, in her opinion, the department store was more or less deserted. For Tokyo, at least; but that was just her view of the matter. There were other stores nearby that were just as good - she would make certain that this was one of the best days in Ryuuga's life.

"There will be no crowds, then." It wasn't really a question and Misa was just the slightest bit unnerved by it. Nevertheless, she shoved her surprise out the nearest door and continued radiating confidence for both of them.

"Hopefully not! Is Ryuuga-san camera-shy?" she asked teasingly, already dragging the detective down the nearest corridor.

L, this time ready for the notion, didn't resist, as that would only serve to attract more attention. If he was to appear as a member of the crowd, he had to act like one. Of course, he had absolutely no idea how to do that, but he was certain that physically resisting the person he was supposed to be with didn't count among these things.

Camera-shy, she said. Actually, he was no stranger to media. His performances were limited to audio, unfortunately.

"I suppose so, yes. I've been told I'm not very photogenic." he noted, observing the fact that Misa seemed to have a particular destination she wished to reach, despite the change to their plans. This wasn't just some random prowl through the shop; the detective began to suspect that there was more going on here than Misa had yet revealed. However, there was no turning back now, at least not without severe consequences.

There was a distinct chance that Watari would call him and demand that he return at once, but he didn't want to spoil Misa's happiness just yet.

"No worries! Leave it all to Misa!" the model continued to chirp, content and blissfully unaware of anything besides her own hope at making someone happy. "She will lead Ryuuga-san safely through this jungle!"

Truthfully, Misa knew precisely where she wanted to go. Her full plan wasn't actually just buying clothes for Ryuuga; she intended to have him transformed. She was confident that someone that intelligent and interesting – because he was, even if he was somewhat perverted – could step out of their shell if they felt more confident about their physical appearance.

She knew that Ryuuga was rich, so she attributed this style of his to his desire to be normal. Perhaps too much so. Well, Ryuuga was anything _but_ normal, as far as Misa was concerned, which meant that he could be a bit more extravagant in the good sense of the word. Like the ugly duckling in the story, he just needed a bit of polishing up, Misa thought. And there was only one place for that.

The _La Mirage _salon and boutique, Misa's favorite spot in this particular part of Tokyo, was one of the most effective and expensive places for a makeover. However, as Misa-Misa, the model got discounts and generally got away with things people would normally pay tens of thousands of yen for. Most of all, she was a frequent patron and usually helped promote the salon for the masses. Her gothic Lolita look was now among the most popular hairstyles and clothing ranges they offered.

As their slogan said, "_La Mirage_ tears away the illusion of the past and creates the reality for the future."

Murakami Tomoko, the manager of the salon, was the first person to march up to the model upon spotting her.

"Misa-san! Welcome back!" she said with a brilliant smile. They hadn't seen Misa around for ages, ever since she had started university, which was a bit of a blow to them all, as the model brought many customers to the salon.

However, Misa-Misa seemed to be back and as chirpy and vivacious as ever, bouncing around and dragging a rather shabby-looking young man into the store behind her. Murakami decided to ignore him, for the time being; if he was with Misa, as he obviously was, she was certain the model would explain everything. At the very least, she was a verbose girl.

"Tomoko-chan! Hi!"

"You haven't been here for far too long! I heard you're going to university now – it was all over the news!" Murakami added unnecessarily. Of course everyone knew about Misa-Misa going to To-Oh. The greater news still was the latest report that swept all the good (and bad) news channels like a hurricane moments after the news had gotten released. "And apparently doing very well in your classes, too!"

"Uh-huh! But that's neither here nor there, Tomoko-chan!" Misa chided happily. However, she was surprised that news had spread so quickly; it was likely some of the students trying to earn quick cash by giving the tabloids info. Natural, but displeasing, too.

"Of course! What will it be today, then?" Murakami assumed her professional persona, immediately assuming that Misa had come to get a whole new look to impress the detective she would be working for. It would cost her, yes, but the advertising for the store would be invaluable, so there would be major discounts. And every girl loved a discount. "We have a new stock of dresses in spring colors…"

"No, no, no!" the model protested quickly, shaking her pigtailed head. "Misa needs a favor, actually!"

"What kind of-" Finally, Misa successfully dragged her companion to stand, or rather, slouch next to her. Murakami didn't know much about the strange bad fashion sense of some teenagers, but the first word that came to her mind was "emo". "Oh, hello there. Can I, ah… help you?" she enquired politely, but couldn't help looking disapprovingly at his patched jeans and overly large t-shirt.

But it was Misa who took the incentive from this point on. "Sure you can! Tomoko-chan, this is Ryuuga-san! He helped Misa very much at school and Misa never forgets her friends."

"You are here together?" Murakami just had to ask. She had assumed this before, but she needed to hear the confirmation from Misa herself.

The model looked just the faintest bit sheepish and disgruntled for a split second before recovering and nodding eagerly. "Exactly! And we need your help, Tomoko-chan. Listen up."

Letting go of Ryuuga just for a moment, Misa dragged Murakami aside and started whispering in her ear furiously. The manager's expression was puzzled and a bit bewildered, something which L ignored. Instead, he took in the multicolored garments and gadgets on display in the store, taking note of the fact that some of them almost resembled hard candy from a distance. He was really hoping this wasn't what Misa meant when she had mentioned sweets. Of course, he couldn't find anything even vaguely resembling cake.

"Oh. Ah. Well, let me see…" Meanwhile, Murakami was observing the detective critically as Misa finished her monologue.

"Well? What do you think?" Misa asked anxiously, watching as the manager walked around Ryuuga in a circle, taking in every detail of his appearance. For someone unused to being ogled in any sense of the word, it was certainly an uncomfortable experience.

Finally, Murakami straightened up, crossing her arms. "This will be difficult." she proclaimed.

"Misa knows."

"Very, VERY difficult." Murakami emphasized, with a pointed glance at the model. There were good qualities about the boy's appearance; he was very tall and thin, almost lanky (assuming he ever straightened up) and with a lot of makeup, he could look more than presentable. However, his skin was pasty white, his hair looked utterly unruly and it looked like he had gotten into one too many fights, with black eyes like that.

"Misa knows." the model repeated, trying to give Ryuuga a brief smile. The detective, realizing the inevitability of this, decided to go observe some of the hairdressing equipment, which obviously interested him more than the ordeal that was in store. "That is why Misa dragged Ryuuga-san here to Tomoko-chan! You alone can do this!"

"Misa-san…" It turned out that Ryuuga was actually listening, at least with half an ear. Whatever argument he was trying to use was interrupted.

"No objections allowed before the trial has started. Judge Misa is going to get herself a toy hammer!" Misa grumbled, stomping with her little feet. "Ryuuga-san has to obey Tomoko-chan until Misa returns." she said in her best intimidating voice, looking about as threatening as a fussy hamster.

"The probability that I won't approve of this idea of yours is over eighty-three percent, Misa-san." L commented, delicately picking up a blow-dryer and examining it as if it were made of glass. He was actually counting on the fact that there was only a small chance that anyone would share Misa's enthusiasm about the possibility of this task. It was simply far-fetched in anyone else's eyes.

"Remember the cake, Ryuuga-san! The cake!" Misa quickly said, trying to make it sound enthusiastic. Murakami seemed to be more or less resigned to going through with this by now, so she was going to do her best to make things work. "Plus, you'll stay right here – Tomoko-chan can get everything to come to you! You don't need to worry about going around the store!"

"Misa-san, I hope I don't need to remind you that if we succeed, the price will be high…" Murakami whispered discreetly, though L heard it, all the while seeming that he didn't, curiously examining a stack of designer clothes as a child would look at an exotic snake at a zoo. A very strange young man.

"That doesn't matter." the model interrupted, shaking her blonde tresses. She wanted to do this. She had to repay kindness with the same, in the only way that she knew how.

"Bankrupting yourself on an unnecessary endeavor is careless, Misa-san." Especially since if he wanted this, L could easily afford buying the whole neighboring department store with all the shops included. It was a needless gesture, however touching; Misa simply couldn't understand the futility of it without knowing who he was and that would never be.

"It isn't unnecessary! Besides, if something happens, Ryuuga-san can pay himself!" Misa huffed, now a bit irritated. She was going to pay her debt and Ryuuga was going to be happy. Maybe he could be a good match for Kiyomi, who was said to be quite intelligent but mean… no. No, she wouldn't set that up. Ryuuga's girlfriend would have to be scanned by Misa's sensors and get her approval. Someone like Kiyomi didn't deserve him.

Only the perverted part of him, maybe, but that came as part of the package. You just learned to accept it over time.

"Bankrupting me would be equally upsetting." L pointed out upon seeing Murakami summon a team of specialists and explain the situation to them. It meant staying out of sight, though – of crowds and cameras as well – while fulfilling Misa's friendship criteria. Better than the alternative, certainly, but the detective would soon have to put his foot down about things.

Being happy with a friend was one thing. But solving his case and maintaining his safety was decidedly higher on the priority ladder, even though he was very thoroughly insured against any attempt to discern his identity from a few seconds of blurry camera footage. If he weren't, he'd never have risked showing up at To-Oh in the first place.

"No objections!" Misa commanded before turning to the woman who was now Igor to her Frankenstein. "I'll be right here, waiting for you." she said, somewhat more gently. "How long do you think this will take, Tomoko-chan?"

Murakami tilted her head a bit and made a good guess. "Give me four hours and then we'll see. Meanwhile, feel free to browse, Misa-san!" she said cheerfully before the team of specialists dragged Ryuuga away.

Misa had to giggle; this was the first time she had ever seen Ryuuga resemble a different animal than a raccoon; in this case, that being a helpless lost puppy.


	7. Legally Transformed

**_EDIT: _**Rewrite as of 2011

A big hello to all of you from Rhodes! I'm back from a three-week trip to London, where I am likely going to be studying from next October. Aside from that, I'm here on vacation, so I have precious little time to write. This chapter is a bit short, but I didn't want to start another scene when things wrapped themselves up so nicely. Rest assured that Light, Takada and Watari will be returning in the next chapter, where the K.I.T. is going to meet at long last. So stay tuned – this chapter is all about L and Misa!

**o.O.o**

**Legally Transformed**

**o.O.o**

In four hours, even Misa had gone through the whole department store at least once and bought whatever she might need, never mind the little boutique. To her dismay, she didn't find any inflatable toy hammer she might use, but decided against buying anything different. She didn't hate Ryuuga, so she didn't prepare an actual hammer just yet. In the end, it might be necessary, but for the time being…

After about ten minutes, she tired even of the attentions of the staff that wasn't involved in her current pet project, even if they were trying to be oh-so-secret about it. She had grudgingly come to terms with the fact that she would have to arrive to the meeting point of the K.I.T. dressed like a nun; or, more likely, like her manager, Yuki, usually dressed – in a plain shirt and skirt and jacket, a boring business costume, though hopefully she would be able to at least choose her own color.

That would be red and black, of course, or hopefully pink, depending on what she could find around here.

However, by the time Murakami returned, Misa was fast asleep on her chair, dreaming of a world where she was Goddess, with Light as her consort and Ryuuga as her palace manager/occassional sidekick, as the resident punishment was forcing people to stuff their face with cake until they were sick and had nightmares of it. Naturally, Takada was the first on the list and, in Misa's fantasy, was a five-hundred-kilogram beach ball moaning about cake.

A happy ending for everyone!

Unfortunately, Murakami just had to start shaking her slightly to wake her up from her wonderful fantasy.

"...sa-san? Misa-san, wake up!" the manager whispered urgently, nudging and poking the half-drooling idol and startling her from her reverie. Misa blinked rapidly, disguising her own startled surprise very clumsily, because she almost overbalanced and dropped out of her chair.

"Wha-? Oh, hi, Tomoko-chan!" Misa put on an immediate smile, though she was still a bit sleepy-eyed. "Misa just closed her eyes for a moment! Any progress?"

Murakami gave a strange expression; stern, but there was something different there as well. Even Misa could see that much and the idol knew that reading people wasn't her strongest suit.

"Well, I won't deny the difficulty we were faced with while attempting to do this." she started rather pompously, but there was still that oddness in her. "I didn't think it was possible, but, well…"

She trailed off and made a beckoning clap towards her subordinates and colleagues, who gave a nod and proceeded to half-drag and half-usher their quarry out of the rapidly transformed changing room. Misa giggled a bit – though she partly felt sorry for Ryuuga – and felt the big grin freeze on her face.

This time, she almost did fall off her chair.

As a model – thus someone who moved in the fashion industry every day – she had guessed that Ryuuga might "clean up" relatively well if loads of tools were involved. It turned out that she was right. Somewhat.

Of course, his skin was still ghostly pale and his hair would likely require more gel or hairspray than was in the whole building to fix properly, thus the employees Murakami had charged with this task had given up on it. However, they had already achieved the impossible; through means unknown, they had managed to find a black suit that fit Ryuuga quite well, matching shoes and a tie.

Aside from that, they had made the characteristic circles under his eyes vanish – likely thanks to some thick makeup. But it was still a major improvement.

More amazing still, they had gotten him to straighten up, which had likely involved several metal gadgets. Straightened up, untamable hair included, he was taller than even Light, as far as Misa could tell, and certainly dwarfed her by at least a head and a half. He looked very, very different from his usual hunched, poorly-clothed raccoon-eyed self. The only reason Misa recognized him was because it couldn't be anyone else. At least she thought so.

The end result... wasn't bad. Not that he would ever find a job in her line of work, of course, but...

Huh.

"Misa-san?" It was his voice, all right, though he didn't start chewing on his thumb as was his custom. Misa idly suspected that there was a chance that the team had also restrained his hands to stop this habit. "Can I go change now?" he asked, somewhat dejectedly. He wasn't at all comfortable in the new getup, clearly.

In the meantime, Misa almost lost whatever ability to articulate an intelligible sentence she possessed.

"Y-you… R-Ryuuga… san…" she stuttered out. Her shock stemmed mostly from the fact that such a transformation was possible at all, but a part of her was also amazed by the fact that she had been correct in her assumption. With a lot of work, polishing and likely a crowbar or two, even Ryuuga could be turned into an appealing sight.

Acceptable! Acceptable sight, of course. She was exaggerating because it was...

It was just so impossible that it had to be real. After all, the foolish of the world hardly believed in rules of logic, thus impossible things happened every day.

"Are you all right, Misa-san? You might want to lie down; you look deathly pale." Ryuuga noted, as if commenting on the weather. The truth was that Misa did indeed look as if all the blood had been drained out of her face, but perhaps that was just her expression of surprise. "The chances of you fainting have increased by twenty percent. Here, I'll help you."

There was that familiarly perverted look in his eyes that Misa thought she recognized as he approached her and the trance was broken and the model brandished her metal hammer and drew it almost like one might a defensive weapon.

"Ryuuga-san is being perverted again!" she squealed, dropping the hammer after waving it around a bit and accidentally making it land on Murakami's foot; the manager was too cultivated to let out a yelp, but she limped to the chair Misa had vacated. "That means… that it really has to be Ryuuga-san!"

"You have deduced my identity based on that fact. I think that hurt my feelings." L commented, watching the model run around him, searching for something she couldn't seem to locate.

This was the first time in his life he had been forced to dress up in clothing such as this and he couldn't say what made it so fashionable or appealing to the masses. It was quite restrictive and uncomfortable. The only reason for doing this he could think of was to make Misa feel more comfortable by allowing her to thank him in the only way she seemed to know. After all, he was supposed to be just as normal and ordinary as she was.

Which wasn't saying much, really.

"Mirror… need… must… there!" Triumphantly, at long last, Misa found a large mirror on wheels and dragged it forth to stand in front of Ryuuga, so that he could see his own reflection. "Look there!" she commanded excitedly, pointing at the mirror's glassy surface, just in case he didn't know how to use one.

Point taken. He didn't make a habit of looking into mirrors much.

There it was, the image of him as they made him; not outstanding, not remarkable, just… normal. Masking the fact that he would never be anything like the image suggested. In fact, it was a little offensive that he looked somewhat like one of the officers under his command - say, a more sleep-deprived, hairbrush-challenged and caffeine-addicted Matsuda.

Not the most flattering of analogies.

"A mirror always shows only a reflection, Misa-san."

"Are you completely blind?" Misa yelled, searching for her hammer to whack him over the head a few times to make him straighten things up in his thick head. "You look… you look…"

She was searching for the correct word, but it wouldn't come to her. The superlatives she could think of would most certainly be more fitting for Light, who was pulchritudinous in every sense of the word. However, it was difficult to describe Ryuuga even when he was just Ryuuga, much less when he was…

Transformed. That was the only suitable expression she could think of.

"…like Light-kun." L concluded in her stead. Her confirmation would lower the possibility of him having feelings for the idol by at least point five percent, which meant mostly that he could be mostly certain about his answer to that hypothetical question.

That it was also a displeasing prospect was completely beside the point.

"Yes!" Misa exclaimed, though with less enthusiasm than she supposed the confirmation would come out. He resembled Light as much as he ever would in that moment.

She wasn't thanking Ryuuga at all; she wasn't helping him. Instead, she was turning him into something she wished to see.

It was selfish.

"But it's just me, Misa-san." he confirmed, mentally subtracting point nine percent from the final probability. Adding to that the hammer and the fact that Misa disliked sweets, the possibility could possibly drop to less than seventy percent. Which was always a good thing.

Unfortunately, Misa had truly grown more intelligent in the past months and realized this sooner than L had believed she would. She smiled more friendlily, more sincerely, nodding.

"Yes… Misa knows. That's the best part about Ryuuga-san." she said happily.

"What?" So, in her eyes, being perverted – what she considered the defining aspect of his personality – was the best thing about him. She was obviously contradicting herself, but L was dejectedly forced to return eight percent back to the probability at feeling just the slightest bit of warmth at that.

"Misa couldn't change that even if she wanted to." the idol added, grinning again, putting all of her sincerity into the words. It was her only chance to apologize to Ryuuga for putting him through this, after all. "And I do not."

"No, no, no, don't slouch, don't!" Murakami jumped in the moment it seemed L was going to do just that and approach Misa more closely, perhaps to see if he was simply dreaming the whole thing and what the probability of this happening was.

"It will ruin your jacket if you do that!" Misa added, slapping Ryuuga on the back the moment he leaned forward to slouch. Being shorter, she was also somewhat quicker than Ryuuga, or fancied herself to be, in any case. And her happiness gave her a certain hyperactive speed that was difficult to surpass.

"I have to walk like this, Misa-san. My capacity for reasoning drops by forty percent if I don't." L muttered gloomily, rubbing his back.

"So if you stand straight, Misa is smarter than you?"

That was a question best left without an answer – even L could tell that much. He received another smack for that in a fit of childishness courtesy of Misa.

For such a small and frail-looking girl, Misa certainly had a great amount of raw physical strength. He was perhaps beginning to see more than one reason why Light had broken up with her, as Misa was anything but a suitable accomplice for Kira – whereas the murderer had to possess a quiet intelligence, cunning bordering on foresight and instinctive secrecy, Misa was bordering on flamboyant, loud and open-hearted.

Five percent off the small chance of Misa having to do anything with Kira at the present moment.

"It's bad for your back… and your clothes!" Misa said, trying to estimate what the price of the attire would be. She wouldn't have it ruined just after a single day by Ryuuga's horrible posture, certainly not!

"Another reason why we should return these." L noted logically and made a move to remove the jacket, at least. There was absolutely no occasion on which he would wear clothes like that; unlike Misa, he was hardly a socialite. And even if he ventured into public places, he always wore his own clothes, never something like this.

Misa's eyes seemed to be on the verge of popping out of her sockets. "NO! No, we can't return these!"

"We can't?" L asked, not really seeing a possible reason. The clothing wasn't damaged; it wasn't even bought, after all. There wasn't any cause for alarm just yet.

"Yes, because… because…" Misa shook her head violently. She didn't have to invent reasons! It looked good, damn it! "There doesn't have to be a reason! Misa likes-" The model almost bit her tongue. She didn't want to tell lies, especially if she wasn't certain of their authenticity. "Misa thinks Ryuuga-san looks good in these clothes." She settled for that.

Misa thought many things looked good. Such a compliment was easily given.

However, it didn't make L look or feel any more comfortable in his current clothing. He felt pleased to some degree that Misa seemed to be in obvious awe of the change, but the final sentiment was far more negative, as, her words aside, it wasn't really him she was looking at. Two percent down.

"This is more Light-kun's style, Misa-san. I cannot focus properly when I am dressed like a designer doll."

"Ryuuga-san might be intelligent, but he isn't too smart." Misa answered, as if she was expecting such an answer.

"Isn't that a contradiction, Misa-san?" L noted, with a slightly grumbling undertone. If she insisted on being childish, they could spend hours here and if it came to that, there was a distinct possibility that Watari would have his head, which was hardly a welcoming prospect. Despite being a servant to him in the eyes of the world, the elderly inventor was also his employer, in a fashion. It was, after all, his money that was at L's disposal.

"We are going to meet the famous detective L!" Misa said with a slightly patronizing air to remind him of that small detail. "Ryuuga-san has to make a good impression and then he might get a permanent job!"

L was famous, ten times as famous as Misa-Misa, at the very least. Misa-Misa was only famous in Japan, so far. He – or she, who knew? – was the main reason why all of To-Oh was so excited about this quasi-internship thingy. Sometimes Ryuuga could be so funny without even intending to do so.

Of course, how silly of him to forget that. However, Misa certainly presumed a lot. "I don't seem to recall the offer saying anything about meeting anyone in person." he noted, pointing out the flaw in her reasoning and proceeding to chew on the pad of his thumb as a reward for making his point.

"Don't be silly!" Misa slapped his hand away, straightening his jacket once more. By now, L was somewhat used to have Misa touch him occasionally, but she had never fussed around him like a mother sending her first child off to school. Now was the time for a first time. "Ryuuga-san is far too perverted to be overlooked so easily! Besides, Misa thinks that Ryuuga-san might make a difference with this investigation. Or Light-kun." she added, mentioning her ex-boyfriend directly for the first time in weeks. "But mostly Ryuuga-san."

The probability of falling in love with Misa rose by another fraction of a percent or so when she referred to Light in a more formal fashion than her usual squeals.

"Why the sudden change of preference?" L asked, genuinely curious. The Misa of old wouldn't hesitate to glorify her precious light at every turn. But this was a new Misa, at least as far as some things were concerned.

Sticking out her tongue didn't count among those things. "It's not that! But Ryuuga-san is so strange; Misa wouldn't be surprised if you found out something that everyone else had missed!"

"How do you feel about Kira – and the investigation regarding the case?" L asked suddenly, without any actual idea as to why he had waited with the question for so long or why he was posing it now, of all times. Still, he would have come to it eventually, he supposed. "I have not yet asked you that, Misa-san." he said, and it was true.

Of course he had Misa's background completely covered – not only as an investigator, but as a genuine fan. However, Amane Misa wasn't known for displaying her political opinions publicly. As far as her media persona went, Misa-Misa was always pretty and happy and without a care for the world or its troubles. But it was Amane Misa-san that interested him, not the fabricated girl-child she hid behind on-screen.

The model looked up at him, her face rather scrunched up. She was obviously displeased with this course of their conversation. In truth, she was actually slightly irked that he wasn't acting quite normally – meaning relishing their proximity in some perverted manner. Ryuuga was always so serious, but right now, he seemed just the slightest bit cold.

He looked more like Light that way, the model realized with just the slightest bit of pain somewhere near her heart.

"Misa is thankful to Kira for killing the bad man who murdered Misa's parents." she answered, pausing to gulp and glance down at her shoes and striped stockings. She would have to change those. "You heard about that, yes?" She had no doubt that he nodded, even though she didn't see his fish-like face; now less fish-like, less familiar, less… Ryuuga-like.

"It was a tragedy, Misa-san." he noted, but he might as well have been commenting on the weather – there was no gentleness to his voice. In contrast to Light, who could at least fabricate concern and emotion, Ryuuga truly lived up to his countenance. Or perhaps he was simply too much of a recluse to understand the impact his words had on Misa.

She hadn't expected anything different, yet it stung nonetheless. Misa was determined not to let it show.

"It was justice. Kira was able to give that to Misa when no one else could. Misa will forever be grateful for that." she said, her voice remarkably steely, without even a hint of Misa-Misa in her tone. Still, it was difficult to discern if this meant she was a supporter or not.

"Why were you so overjoyed about getting the chance to be an apprentice prosecutor on the case, then? It goes against your ideology, Misa-san." L could hope that his biased (for he knew it was so) view of Misa – and thus the belief in her innocence – would prove to be the correct one, but he wasn't naïve enough to disregard the possibility that she was a follower of Kira.

And a strong one, judging by how deeply she followed her rash convictions.

Meanwhile, the model chewed on her lip, considering what ifs for just a single moment.

"If Misa was alone… things would likely be different." she answered slowly, wording it far more carefully than she believed herself capable of. The most surprising thing of all was that she was telling Ryuuga the truth and baring her soul on what she considered a highly personal matter. "Misa is very grateful to Kira for helping her. But Misa… Misa doesn't want to be sad any longer. Misa doesn't want anyone to be sad. Except maybe Kiyomi-chan." she amended with a brief sour look.

But that wasn't an answer and they both knew that, even though Misa might curse Ryuuga for being so perceptive.

"I do believe you are trying to evade the question." L noted without any hint of tact; it was a statement, a commentary, as it always was with him. No one had ever taught him about human feeling beyond its motivation to a criminal mind.

Misa knew far too much of feeling, to compensate for that and smacked his arm in part playfulness, part annoyance and part frustration. "Ryuuga-san is being silly! Light is on the team and Light wants Kira brought to justice." How easy it was to lie! Misa was a natural actress, if she said so herself. "So Misa wants to help."

"Meaning that if it were a choice between Kira and Light-kun, you would choose the latter?"

The model scoffed at the very idea of that being in question. "Of course! Light is everything to Misa!"

But for the first time, there was a quiet voice in the back of her mind, asking her if she still believed that. Ryuuga was something, as was Misora-sensei and this whole investigation.

Maybe there was more to her existence now than impressing Light. Ryuuga seemed to think so.

But he was studying her with one long, unreadable look before averting his eyes and likely calculating the probability of Misa getting mad if he tried to scratch his knee in these dreadful clothes. "I see. May we get going now, Misa-san? I would really like to get my old clothes back…"

Anything to get out of this straightjacket.

Misa nodded, but she was already signaling Murakami that they were going to buy everything and that she was happy. "Not until Detective Misa solves one last mystery! A-HA!" she intoned after gently running a finger

Under Ryuuga's left eye and feeling the smear of makeup on her finger as part of the dark shadow there was revealed. She fixed it, of course, but she had made her point.

Sometimes hiding things meant losing them. And Misa wasn't going to lose anything else, Hideki Ryuuga included.


	8. Legally Planning

_**EDIT**_: **Rewrite as of 2011.**

Sorry for the major delay, folks, I had a ton of things to deal with, with moving to college and whatnot. This chapter was written very early on – finally, we get to see some sort of investigation starting! The main protagonists are all featured here, so let me know what you think about this particular chapter. I like it a lot.

Reviews are love, so gimme!

**o.O.o**

**Legally Planning**

**o.O.o**

I'll even dress in black and white  
See I have not begun to fight  
And you'll go OH much better and  
OH much better  
and soon all y'all know much better

I am so much better  
I am so much better  
I am so much better  
than before!

- Legally Blonde, the Musical

**o.O.o**

The grand day came and Misa woke up earlier than usual, though whether from excitement or dread, she couldn't really tell. Getting the chance to work alongside with someone like L was something most people would definitely kill for, but she still wasn't quite certain how to feel about it. Sure, it was an opportunity to become serious. Naturally, not even Light would be able to ignore her after this. But she was very much on Kira's side of this conflict.

She didn't doubt that L might have good intentions, but it was Kira who had given her justice and her parents closure. Kira had brought true justice to the world. L was an obstacle to this – L wanted to stop the punishing of criminals that would otherwise never receive their due. And obstacles had to be removed somehow.

But Light was on L's side in this and Misa knew that while she would like to meet Kira and thank him for everything, this gratitude could never compare to what she felt for Light.

And besides, she was also looking forward to working with Ryuuga on this project. She still wasn't quite certain what to think of him, but she had come to regard him as her best friend on many accounts. He kept disappearing less frequently nowadays, but Misa knew that it was still far too little compared to what time best friends _should_ be spending together.

She even didn't have a phone number for him – every time she tried to call him back, she found the number to have been disconnected. In the end, she took the time to trace one of the weirder phone numbers, only to find it somewhere around the eastern French borders. Misa knew well Ryuuga was rich, though – and now she intended to make him dress like it – so she wrote it off as a brief vacation. But it was still somewhat odd and the thought stuck in her mind. She didn't really think of asking him about it, though; afterwards, she quickly realized that while she knew Ryuuga's peculiar personality quirks, she knew very little about him in terms of unnecessary trivia every friends should know about one another.

The time for the questions would come, she decided, because she was curious. Most of the people she knew wasted not a single minute to brag about themselves once they found out who she was, so impressing Misa was more difficult than most would believe. So she would investigate Ryuuga a bit, since she was about to become a legitimate lawyer slash detective assistant now.

Working with L. Misa might not entirely approve of the detective's views on Kira, but she had enough sense to be grateful for the possibility.

She went alone today, since apparently all of them had received different instructions. The one that gave Misa the phone number to call had been Misora-sensei once again, which was likely a very good choice for a link between the students and whoever on L's team was handling this bizarre gathering. Misa grew to like Misora-sensei, despite their rough start. she knew she could never be anything like the determined and cunning ex-FBI agent – her personality was simply too different – but she admired the woman for doing what she did.

Even the phone call had made her nervous. At first, she had believed the elderly voice that answered to be L himself, but her excitement quickly dropped as the man introduced himself with a boring everyday name and told her he was part of the investigation team. That she should go to this and this hotel at this time, not tell anyone about the location, wear this and this color to make sure she was easily identified. Oh, and not tell a living soul about any of this, as there was enough hype about this thing anyway and L _really_ liked his privacy. Not to mention that if she did, she would forfeit this chance to work with the team.

Misa was beginning to wonder if even the agents on L's actual investigation team were a bit annoyed with his tendency to be overcautious at times and quite aggressive at others (like, oh, say, provoking Kira on a quasi-world-wide broadcast.)

She asked if it would be better if she wore a wig and glasses – one of her favorite disguises. Every celebrity had to have one, since even the feeling of being recognized on the street got annoying once in a while. Whoever said money couldn't buy privacy wasn't a good actor. The glasses were allowed, but it would be better if she didn't wear the wig, they said.

The five-star hotel Misa entered was certainly the kind of place where an idol might go to flaunt her fame. It certainly wasn't the kind of place where a young girl with a mousy brown bob and horn-rimmed glasses might go, no matter how stylishly dressed. That was another thing Misa wasn't certain about – how to dress. Her disguise required a more conservative attire, but her closet was filled with gothic clothing of various levels. One didn't go meeting L like that, she was certain.

Therefore, Misa went shopping into a store she would normally never enter; one that sold business suits for women. She disliked even the shopping window, filled with dull colors and horribly cut skirts and blouses. But she was a lawyer now, she told herself over and over again. She was serious. And serious girls dressed like her manager, or possibly… possibly like Takada Kiyomi.

So bland, so boring. So… lifeless.

Sort of like Light dressed, she realized with a bit of fear. And, if the tiny part of her mind that was impartial was allowed to speak, she would perhaps admitted that the Light she knew and Takada were rather suited for each other. Of course, such a thought was ridiculous right now. No matter what she thought of the dreadful clothes, she had to pick some. At the very least, she didn't want to embarrass Ryuuga.

Assuming he didn't embarrass her by not wearing the wonderful clothes she bought him. Then she would be really offended.

In the end, she had to buy a whole new outfit. Dressed in a white blouse, black skirt and jacket, with an elegant black bag and matching shoes, Misa doubted anyone would recognize her even if she wasn't wearing the wig. She refused to tie her hair back, but she dropped her childish pigtails for the occasion and combed her hair back, adding a silver hairpin or two to make sure she looked professional.

She almost didn't recognize herself in the mirror. It was a dark day for Misa-Misa, but a triumph for Amane Misa when she found that she could look at least half as dignified as Takada, if she put effort into it.

No one stopped her in the hotel. No one recognized her. It was both pleasing and rather depressing, but Misa focused on the positives. She looked around to see if anyone was approaching her or if any of the others were there. What she saw immediately was a familiar slouching figure – annoyingly recognizable in his usual clothes, rather than those she went through such pains to get him – talking to some elderly gentleman dressed in clothes such as he should have been wearing.

The unfamiliar man had a grandfatherly face and looked almost like a butler of sorts, except with kinder eyes and yet more authority to his gaze. He spotted Misa as she approached them before Ryuuga did and smiled kindly at her, inclining his head in the slightest bow. Misa found she rather liked him. By then, Ryuuga finally saw her, once again sucking on his thumb rather musingly as he studied her attire. For a moment, Misa's pervert alarm went off, but she got it under control quickly. It was just Ryuuga – he wasn't _really_ a pervert (she hoped), he was just weird that way (she _knew_).

"Amane-san, we have been expecting you." the elderly gentleman said. Even his voice was refined and kind. She could definitely get used to it. "This way, please."

Misa quickly got back into her enthusiasm and flashed Ryuuga a bright smile as a greeting. Surprisingly, he was still studying her rather intently, which was a bit unnerving and just the slightest bit flattering. Not to mention that his eyes were on her face, unlike what most people would do. But she was still a bit annoyed that he wasn't wearing the clothes that had looked so nice on him, so she easily pushed aside her slight giddiness on that account.

However, her other giddiness wasn't so easily pushed away.

"This looks just like in those old European movies!" she chirped quietly as both of them followed the man to the elevator. "The elderly English butler – except he's Japanese, not English, but anyway…"

"Misa-san likes period movies?" Perhaps he was just trying to stop her from rambling on, but Ryuuga almost sounded interested, even as he kept his eyes on the path before him and not the girl beside him. Typically, Misa chose to believe the latter.

"Uh-huh! Misa wants to be a serious actress one day, so she tries to watch a bit of everything. Choosing roles carefully is very important – plus, there are always so many wonderful outfits in historical movies!" she proclaimed, smiling still.

"And what about your law career? Do you intend to abandon it so quickly?"

"That would mean wearing outfits like this every day. Misa isn't sure she could handle it."

"Ah. But it suits you quite well."

The blonde beamed at the compliment. It wasn't anything like the immense praise she received from admirers, but it was much more appreciated. "Ryuuga-san can be very sweet when he wants to be."

"Hm?" He didn't seem to be paying attention, though, since the elevator doors opened a second later and his mind was likely far away once again. It wasn't _actual_ flattery, Misa realized a bit dejectedly; more like just an observation. Another one of Ryuuga's oddities – but a likable one this time.

"Does Ryuuga-san want to be a lawyer when he finishes university?" she asked once the up button had been pressed and they were heading to the floor where L's temporary headquarters were located. The elderly man with them wasn't watching them, but Misa had the feeling he was listening with some slight amusement.

As for Ryuuga, he looked at her for a few moments, evaluating how much could be said and how much could be amended. "My current work keeps me busy, Misa-san." he noted a second later. "I am not planning a career change at the moment." There was the slightest spark of humor in his usually empty black eyes, black as the coffee he seemed to drink all the time, as if this was some hidden joke Misa wasn't in on.

Just as Misa opened her mouth to ask where he actually worked – since he hadn't told her yet – the elevator door opened and their guide led them out towards an ordinary-looking door which led to a highly stylish but ordinary five-star hotel room. There was expensive furniture everywhere, but no personal effects whatsoever; Misa wondered if L actually lived in this room. More oddly, though, she spotted a few half-eaten boxes of sweets near the bar. Perhaps Ryuuga would fit here quite well, if someone shared his sugar addiction.

Light and Takada were both present already, impeccably dressed as always, the former in jeans and a plain shirt, the latter in a costume much like Misa's, but beige and – in the model's opinion – less stylish or expensive. They didn't seem to be talking right then, but it was noticeable that Light appeared almost bored, while Takada was pacing around, somewhat on edge.

Light was the first to notice them and inclined his head towards them both in perfect politeness. "Misa. Ryuuga."

"Yagami-kun." Ryuuga greeted off-handedly before plopping down into the nearest chair and pouring himself a coffee as if the place belonged to him. Misa automatically went to fetch the sugar from a different table. In the meantime, Takada returned back to earth from her reverie and, just to make sure she made Misa's day, approached Ryuuga with a cordial smile.

"Ryuuga-san, nice to be introduced to you at last." she said politely, sitting down next to Light on the couch opposite the coffee-drinking youth. "My name is Takada Kiyomi; I've heard a lot about you from Light."

"All the best, I'm sure, Kiyomi-chan!" Misa interjected, beaming at the mumbled gratitude from Ryuuga when she handed him his beloved sugar cubes. She sat down opposite of Light, awarding both her ex and her rival with a carefree smile. Light simply watched the spectacle without too much visible interest, his attention quietly focused on his nemesis and wondering what point this ridiculous plan involving Takada and Misa might have.

Meanwhile, the cat fight continued.

Takada gave a tight grimace-like smile. "Amane-san. I was very surprised to see you received the final place in this… internship of sorts. You seem an unlikely choice for the honor of being L's assistant for a single case."

"The unlikely choice can be the best one, Kiyomi-chan." Misa noted in a wise voice, ignoring the coffeepot and pouring herself a bit of the milk instead. She couldn't see any water nearby and didn't want to ask for any yet.

Their guide, whom they had forgotten for a moment, approached them before Takada could come up with a reply, easily gathering all of their attention.

"Everyone please settle down. L would like to speak to you now."

"You mean he's coming here?" Misa couldn't help the question rushing out of her mouth. It sounded very improbable even to her, but it was certainly something to be excited about.

The gentleman smiled kindly at her. "In a sense, Amane-san."

However, Misa understood immediately that she had been wrong when a laptop was placed on the table in front of them and an old-English-style font appeared on a white screen, spelling out a single letter. Though this was to be expected, Misa couldn't help but feel the slightest bit disappointed. But still, it was L – who could see them now, hear them, talk with them.

The voice that came out of the speakers was once again mechanic, lifeless, rather like one would imagine a computer or a robot to be speaking. Exactly as it was the day he had broadcasted his intention to capture Kira and sentence him to death.

"_Greetings and welcome to the four chosen candidates. I am L."_There was no emotion in the voice and it couldn't be said that it was overly charismatic, with all the jamming mechanisms in place, but those three words were quite enough to command authority and silence over the whole room._"As you likely know, I am conducting an investigation against Kira at the moment."_Small talk, useless. Of course they knew that. Everyone knew that. _"Normally, civilians wouldn't be allowed to even enter this building, but I believe the four of you will be an asset to the investigation. I chose each of you based on your full profile consisting of both academic records and psychological profiles. In other words, you are here because to some degree, each of you fits the profile we have constructed for Kira himself."_

"What?" Misa almost jumped to her feet, but settled down when she got a sharp look from Light. She glanced at Ryuuga, but he didn't seem to be at all fazed by the news that all of them were potential suspects.

"_Each of you has a certain likelihood of being Kira."_The voice continued, as if the interruption had never happened. Light was not too amused by the recording or the charade – it didn't even have to be a recording, since a computerized voice was impossible to recognize. It just seemed a joke._"Your task while working with the taskforce will be discovering which one of you is the most likely to be a Kira suspect and proving your reasoning. You have a month to submit your results. Watari will answer any questions you might have. I'm looking forward to hearing your theories."_

The letter vanished and communications were cut, obviously, leaving the room rather confused and silent. The elderly gentleman, who was now introduced to all of them as Watari, L's right hand man, carefully closed the computer and went to take it away, asking them if they wanted something to drink. No one could really speak, for various reasons.

Light decided to play along with the charade, for the time being, giving a sigh and leaning back with an effective expression of concern and slight disdain. As if the very thought of having to convict someone else as Kira was too much for him. Inwardly, though, he was rather happy about all of this. If he got enough evidence to pinpoint his current girlfriend as Kira, L would have to get off his back. Misa wasn't an option, because she simply didn't have the brains to play the part of Kira effectively. Takada it was, then.

"Well, it seems as though we have a challenge on our hands."

"This isn't fair at all!" Misa finally let out her frustrations, at least for the moment. How dare he! How dare he suspect them of being Kira just because… well, she could actually imagine someone like Light or Ryuuga being Kira. Maybe even Takada, though that was less likely. But her? She wasn't executioner material. "Making presumptions like this!"

"I hate to say it, but I agree with Amane-san." Takada said grimly.

Misa blinked. Takada agreeing with her? "Kiyomi-chan…?"

"I can understand how the three of us might theoretically fit the profile for Kira, but Amane-san certainly isn't the kind of person I imagine holding the responsibilities of Kira."

"Hey! Are you calling Misa stupid? You are, aren't you?"

"Irresponsible and stupid are hardly synonyms, Amane-san, but true in a simplified view." Which was basically a yes, though Takada didn't say so. She actually agreed with Misa to a great extent this time, but her pride didn't allow her to say something like that in front of Light. "You hardly strike me as the criminal genius type."

"Misa thinks Kiyomi-chan is flattering herself too much." the blonde sneered a little, pinpointing Takada's pride as her weakness.

"Ladies, please; we're here to help solve the investigation." Light interjected, seeing that L was quite content to just sip his coffee and let the two ridiculous girls claw their eyes out in a pointless argument. "We can't let… personal disputes get in the way."

"Oh, Misa understands perfectly, Light-kun, but Kiyomi-chan seems to think this is about some silly contest and not helping justice prevail." Misa noted, not at all in her cutesy idol persona at the moment. Her blue eyes were actually cold this time.

"In any case, maybe we should meet twice a week to discuss our theories?" Light suggested, eager to get this meeting over with so that he could start working on the plan.

"Once is quite enough." L interjected, adding a few more sugar cubes into his mug before taking a few sips. "In any case, Takada-san is essentially correct. This is a contest – an Agatha Christie scenario. I believe it will be interesting." he noted musingly. He almost seemed to be enjoying himself, much to Misa and Light's annoyance.

It was just so like him to think of this as a simple game.

**o.O.o**

Misa wasn't happy at all with how things were going. She wanted to storm out of the building and make her indignation known to the world – or L, at least, as the more she thought of it, the likelier it seemed that he was in the very hotel they were leaving now, though in a different room – but thought better of it. Instead, she simply huffed, folding her arms as she and Ryuuga went through the various corridors.

"This whole investigation thing stinks! Ryuuga-san, this is the part where you agree with me." she reminded her companion, tapping her foot on the floor impatiently as they waited for their elevator.

The young man, however, didn't seem too concerned with any of it. or at least, he didn't get why she was so unhappy with this. as far as he was concerned, the chance that Misa was Kira was next to zero at the moment – but she was a very useful chess piece for keeping Light off-balance and maybe make him slip just the tiniest bit…

"There was no pungent smell that I could detect in the room, Misa-san…" he noted, the best attempt at a joke he might unintentionally make. Usually, his inability to comprehend normal Japanese and insist on using what Misa had dubbed Ryuuga-speak privately would get a giggle out of her, but this time, the model was in a foul mood.

"Ryuuga-san is being weird again." Misa whined, contemplating whacking him on the head. She would much rather whack L, though, and she didn't want to give Ryuuga a concussion meant for someone else. "I mean that this is a really weird thing to be asked for, making us investigate people we know like this."

"You think so?" L was actually rather pleased with the way this plan was unfolding. It seemed like he was giving Light the chance to implicate someone else, but by limiting the number of people he could choose from, his next few movements would be rather easy to read. He would pick Takada-san, naturally, before playing the play of the betrayed lover and perhaps somehow killing her off. That is, if he was Kira, which was something L was becoming increasingly certain of.

"Of course!" Misa barked out, frowning deeply. "It all seems way too weird to be anything but a cover-story for something even weirder or L is far stupider than I thought. Or a pervert." she added musingly. It was difficult to tell if this was only her anger talking or if she actually thought that. L didn't regret deceiving her, though. For one thing, it was keeping her safe and for another, she wouldn't be so helpful if she knew just how helpful she could be. "Possibly both."

"There is a likelihood of the former, of course, but the latter doesn't seem very probable to me." L noted in the elevator, calculating the possibility of the petite model actually attempting to break his skull if she knew the full extent of his plans. Knowing Misa – and he prided herself in knowing her rather well, despite her confusing tendencies and almost schizophrenic idol-personalities – the probability was high indeed. "After all, we were provided with cake."

The words gave Misa some semblance of normalcy, which was thoroughly odd. She decided not to dwell on it and allowed her anger to evaporate for the time being. This investigation meant she would be spending much more time with Ryuuga and with Light (and Takada) so perhaps she could finally get the former to talk and the latter to take her seriously. Surprisingly, she found herself caring much more about the former than the latter objective.

"Misa is starting to wonder what Ryuuga-san would choose if he could get either Kira or all the cake in the world." the model lamented, shaking her head and allowing some of her blond hair to fly around her face. "Say, that actually makes it seem that Ryuuga-san could be Kira." she added slyly.

"So you've already singled me out as a suspect?" L asked placidly. It was an amusing prospect, to be investigated himself. there was a chance Takada-san might do so, but she wouldn't find anything at all. Misa doing so could complicate things a bit, but it wasn't too much of a problem. But on the long run, he could be considered a criminal from a certain point of view, as he stopped at nothing to solve a case. Just as Kira could be perceived as a savior, from a different point of view. But there were limits to the ends justify the means philosophy and that was the difference between him and Kira. One of many.

Misa, however, laughed a bit, her mood obviously lifted. "Silly Ryuuga-san, Misa knows you aren't Kira. You believe too much in the current system of _justice_ to be Kira." the way she tensed at that particular word showed that she didn't believe in it as much, but L decided to let it be for the moment.

She had come to the right conclusion, though. "I concede your point, Misa-san, but basing deductions on subjective feelings isn't a very good strategy."

"Misa doesn't even know why she was picked for this." the blonde confessed. She half-hoped Ryuuga would reassure her that she was perfectly capable of investigating like this, but that was something Light would do and he and Ryuuga were like night and day. "Kiyomi is a mean girl, but she has a point – Misa couldn't do the things Kira does and get away with it so easily."

"Judging people based on first impressions is a great mistake." L noted as the door of the elevator opened. He didn't let Misa out first, with was a bit discourteous, but his words took the sting of that away. "You couldn't have been chosen without reason."

"Ryuuga-san can be very sweet sometimes." Misa repeated with a smile. Although she wasn't certain if being told she might have the potential to be Kira was flattering, coming from him.


	9. Legally Seeing

_**EDIT: **__**Rewrite as of 2011.**_

Merry Christmas, everyone! Due to the popularity of this fic, I decided to update it on Christmas Eve, since many people seem to want to know what happens. We move along a bit in this chapter, so you'll see how it goes once more drama begins! Happy Holidays! FYI, this is a pretty depressing chapter!

**o.O.o**

**Legally Seeing**

**o.O.o**

Throughout the journey home, Misa was busy racking her brain about who she should investigate.

She still found this a highly suspicious move on L's part – she might not be a genius herself, but even she could tell that something fishy was going on. The detective was famous for his deceptions (most notably the astonishing gambit in which he had discovered Kira's location along with proof of his existence) and Misa somehow refused to believe that he was doing this simply to provide them with a challenge. Most likely they were all suspects, but she couldn't put her mind around that. By her own admission, she couldn't be Kira; she didn't have the power, let alone the intelligence to evade the police and L this way.

As for the others… well, Takada was a snotty little twit, but Misa couldn't imagine her being Kira. If she was, she would have killed the model off long ago, Misa supposed. Which left the boys, both of which were… well… both had the necessary intelligence for it, but she couldn't imagine Light or Ryuuga simply killing anyone. They were scholars, not killers.

Thoroughly miserable with her lack of decision, Misa decided to take the evening off, so to speak, to go through the information on Kira she had. As an avid fan and partial supporter (so far as it didn't conflict with her own interests) Misa kept tabs on Kira's actions and killings. If she so wished, she could top the news anchors regarding information about the latest punishments, but all that was a sidetrack now; a useful one, though. The only information she didn't have was what the task force was doing; the public didn't even know there _was_ a task force, really.

Her apartment was a modest studio which was quite in contrast to the high earnings she had as a model. Despite the recent downslide in her salaries due to her university duties, no one could say Amane Misa was a poor girl any longer. Nowadays, there were far more books and reference papers around than fashion magazines, but the apartment still obviously belonged to a young girl. The only magazine-like object on her table that was different from the newspapers with Kira articles was a notebook.

Once Misa managed to get out of her jacket and change from her 'office outfit', as she called it, into something more comfortable, she threw herself down on the sofa and examined the papers of today. The notebook gave her pause, though. She had her own scrapbook with Kira articles, but that wasn't it – she liked black as a color, but she certainly didn't like anything with words about death on it. _Death Note_, it said in bright white letters, the only inscription on the thin notebook. The writing looked almost like bones.

The model tensed a bit, but remembered that her door had been locked properly, as always; Misa knew that stalkers weren't an uncommon thing nowadays, but she had been in luck so far. Except for that creepy incident years ago…

She shuddered at even thinking about it. She had trained herself not to. Besides, a stalker would have most likely taken her underwear or done something more drastic than leaving her a notebook – and a blank one at that, she proceeded to find out.

Perhaps it had just fallen out of one of the magazines she had thrown away, Misa reasoned, even though she couldn't imagine that any of those magazines had contained something so macabre. Maybe there was a Halloween cut-out somewhere? That would be nice.

But an extra notebook wouldn't hurt… especially now that she had so much to write. Misa fished out a pen and chewed on it for a moment. She would make a list, she decided. A list of reasons why Light and Ryuuga and Takada and she could or couldn't be Kira. That way, she could focus on a single suspect and prepare an alibi for herself if she ended being suspected. Which was preposterous, anyway.

"Takada Kiyomi, then." Misa proclaimed to the room in general. But the ballpoint pen had scarcely touched the surface of the notebook before a different, deeper voice, spoke in response.

"If you value their lives, I wouldn't write down the names of your friends in there."

Misa froze. For a moment, her mind seemed to stop. She wasn't too far from the kitchen and, being rather quick on her feet, she could likely make it there to grab a knife. However, her eyes reacted before her mind and she looked up. The sight sapped her limbs of any will to move.

Hovering above her, before her, was…

Her lungs filled up reflexively and she tried to scream, but the creature quickly clasped its gargantuan hand over the girl's mouth. Misa didn't flinch at the contact, but it proved to her that it wasn't just a figment of her imagination, which terrified her all the more.

Despite her public persona, Misa actually handled horror movies and the macabre quite well. Now, she felt faint.

"Please don't scream." But the creature's – the _reaper's -_voice was intelligent and sad and sounded so… imploring. Something in Misa was telling her that she wasn't going to be hurt, but she didn't trust that part of herself yet. "I'm not here to hurt you, Amane Misa. I will let you go if you promise not to scream. Do you promise?"

The model, flabbergasted that a nightmarish creature such as this could know her name, nodded shakily. She was close to hyperventilating when the creature surveyed her and let go, still observing from a distance, in a surprisingly human-like manner. Misa wanted to ask _what_ the creature was, but caught herself somehow and changed her question.

"W-who are you?"

That meant something to the creature, Misa could tell, but how… she didn't know.

"I am a shinigami. My name is Rem." The death god spoke surprisingly calmly, as if this was a regular occurrence for her.

And perhaps it was.

"Are you… are you here for Misa's soul?" the blonde stammered, swallowing nervously. Now she knew that no kitchen knife could save her.

"No." Rem said simply, "I am here because of a promise. To watch over you… and give you that."

The death god's inhuman eyes moved to the black notebook Misa had almost written Takada's name into. Misa glanced at it as well, unable to comprehend why a god of death would descend from the underworld or wherever such creatures might reside simply to give her a notebook that was, by all accounts, plain and ordinary.

All her thoughts boiled down to a simple question. "Why?"

"Because it belongs to you now." Rem noted, obviously glad that the human was beginning to relax, if only bit by bit. "Along with the power that comes with it."

"Power?" Misa blinked, lost more and more with each word.

It took the better part of three hours for her to actually comprehend what was going on and where she figured into it. The Death Note was a tool of the shinigami. Any person whose name was written in there would die within less than a minute, but the circumstances could be specified, so that the death wouldn't be a simple heart attack. One needed to know the face and name of the person, because the Death Note wasn't able to kill several people at once simply on the basis of bearing the same name.

All of this sounded so terribly familiar… the model now saw the connections between Kira and his victims. She was awed, really, by what someone was doing with what others might have used to kill off their rivals. It was so ostentatious and daring that it might actually work… and Rem agreed that Kira likely had his own Death Note and a shinigami. Which explained a lot.

And Misa could find Kira now, she realized. There was a way of identifying a Death Note owner, though there was a cost.

"So if Misa had the Eyes of the Shinigami, I would be able to see the names and lifespan of everyone… except those who have their own Death Note." the blonde asked for what seemed the umpteenth time.

She was still a bit frightened, but now more by what she was discovering than by Rem herself. It turned out that the shinigami was female, which surprised Misa more than she cared to admit. It amused Rem somewhat, though she didn't care much for it.

"Correct."

"Rem, does this… does this mean Misa would be able to spot Kira in a crowd?"

Because this way, she would be able to know for certain if L was playing a game with all of them and, assuming she ever met the detective personally, unlikely as it might be, she would be able to tell his name simply by looking at him. The possibility of such knowledge – and, indirectly, power – was frightening to Misa. She didn't know what she would do once she knew who Kira and L were. If she found out. Kira was her hero, but Light wanted L to catch Kira, so…

"I know little about this Kira you've been trying to find, but from what I know, I suppose it is a plausible theory." Rem admitted, "However, it is difficult to pick apart a crowd for names. And the probability of you encountering this Kira personally is small."

She was somewhat disappointed that Misa was so selfless and willing to use the Death Note for others; usually, people thought of themselves first. Yet from her speech, it was obvious Misa wanted, above all, to find Kira and then… Rem didn't know what Misa was planning after that. But, from what she knew of Kira, it was doubtful that someone so pragmatic would let Misa live. Unless, of course, they knew of the dangers that involved…

"I see." And Misa did. She was silent for a long time, contemplating… but inwardly, she made the decision quite quickly. "Rem… I want to make the trade." she said, still looking at the Death Note. She needed to see names in order to find Kira; she wasn't L, who would likely be able to single out a suspect based on the information she now possessed.

This time, the shinigami couldn't contain her surprise. She rather liked the girl for her earnestness and giving up half her life… of course, Jealous had given her a lifespan longer than most other humans had, but halving it would make it average, at best.

"Why so suddenly?"

And what was stopping her from simply telling L these things? Because she had to see with her own eyes that those that were suspected of being Kira weren't Kira at all... and, of course, she wanted to…

"Because Misa wants to find Kira and talk to him." the model noted in a small voice.

She didn't dare hope of convincing Kira to stop his crusade and she was quite certain that L wouldn't be lenient even to a repenting 'sinner', she thought with an inner sneer, hating L all the more, but she had to speak with him. "Kira is Misa's hero… but also someone I'm supposed to find as part of the taskforce. I want to help."

"Half of your lifespan is a greater price than you may realize, Misa…"

Young humans could be quite stupid about death, Rem knew. Simply by virtue of being young, they believed themselves safe from death's clutches. Misa herself wasn't even twenty yet, so she couldn't possibly entertain any thoughts of what dying or death was like. The death god, however, knew too well.

But Misa, while simple, while foolishly kind and at times rather oblivious to things, understood that she would be taking years – decades, perhaps – of her life away for the vain hope of meeting Kira and speaking with him. But she could die in an hour, in a day… and once she met Kira and made Light happy – and Ryuuga as well, for it was obvious he admired L and his efforts – she didn't need to go on living much longer. Just enough to see them happy.

And, perhaps, to prove herself just as capable as them. Maybe she couldn't be with Light – maybe she wanted it less than ever – but she would be acknowledged.

"Misa knows all the implications. Rem has been very good to explain them thoroughly." Her voice hardened with determination as she looked at the death god with a tenacity that Kira himself would be proud of. "I want the Eyes."

**o.O.o**

The first day was hell.

Numbers, letters, _everywhere_. Perhaps she was imagining it, but the world itself seemed to have gained a slightly red tint to it, especially when she focused on a particular name or number. She still couldn't read shinigami time and Rem refused to teach her that, telling her that it would depress her and that it wasn't allowed. However, Misa was beginning to suspect that the smaller the number, the worse for the person. She preferred to focus on the name rather than the number, but it did nothing to help her… mostly.

The vision was distracting. Even magazines and television triggered her sight and sometimes, people would comment that her eyes were red and that she needed rest. Of course, she felt much better when she discovered that no one but herself could see Rem without touching the Death Note. She kept the notebook safe in her apartment, never taking it out. It made having conversations with Rem difficult, but Misa solved it by always pretending to be talking on her phone when the shinigami said something.

True to Rem's words, Misa saw nothing hovering above her own head when she looked into the mirror, nor did she see anything when she looked at the shinigami. But the rest… the rest was a blurry mass.

She wasn't able to focus on university much, let alone her work. She avoided the television like a plague and almost didn't talk to anyone in the following few days, whenever she could avoid it. Not that there was anyone to talk to – it turned out that Light was apparently off attending to his father, who was in the hospital and Ryuuga… Ryuuga was gone again.

For the first time, Misa preferred it. She didn't want him to see her in such a state of distress; she felt as if she was going through a period of insomnia.

"Do you think she's sick?" she heard Ran and a few other girls whispering when she sat down alone once again to eat her lunch without company, though some tried to join her.

"She looks bad… well, as bad as a model can look, anyway." the girl amended sheepishly, glancing at Misa wistfully.

"Do you think her boyfriend dumped her?"

A frown. "I thought Yagami-kun was still with Kiyomi-san."

"No, I meant that other guy…"

"She said they were friends – besides, I heard from Yoshiko-chan that someone thought Misa-san came here only to chase Yagami-kun."

"That's a good theory – I mean, maybe she sees it isn't working and spent the night crying."

Misa could almost laugh, but that would mean looking at then and once more seeing their names spelt out in blood red letters above their heads, something she didn't really think she could bear any longer. She was beginning to second-guess her own rash choice.

The girls were being rather silly, but she didn't pay it much heed any longer. Without Ryuuga, intelligent conversation was hard to come by, even in this so-called academic environment.

Since when had she started thinking that way? Misa didn't really know. But she began to look forward to the weekly meeting of the investigation team somehow.

"You look less than your best, Amane-san." Not even Misora-sensei was immune to the Eyes, Misa discovered when she handed the lecturer her homework, looking rather bleary-eyed and tired.

Misa gave one of her practiced excuses, but she couldn't help but notice that the former FBI agent didn't buy her words one bit. Fortunately, most people seemed to have come to the conclusion that she was depressed over losing Light to Takada and having no success in getting him back, which was surprisingly fine with her. It was preferable to them knowing the truth.

"Misa, I think you shouldn't get more involved with this."

Rem wasn't helping things much, either. The shinigami obviously regretted having given Misa the Eyes after seeing how driven the blonde was by her goal. It was becoming unhealthy for her, this driving goal of hers, almost toppling her obsession with Light. Almost. She was trying so desperately to prove herself and meet Kira at the same time that she was once again rushing into disaster. Especially since the key players – both of which could hurt Misa very much, should they choose to do so – were so close to her.

The shinigami also wasn't very helpful with the investigation, but that was for different reasons entirely.

Rem supposed the main reason why Misa wasn't dead yet was that it would be too obvious if Yagami Light's ex-girlfriend dropped dead so close to him. It would be easy to make the connection for someone who had already marked the police chief's son as their primary suspect.

And L…

Rem hated him almost equally, for the way he was maneuvering Misa deliberately into Light's path to make her an obstacle and possible form of evidence.

The model, oblivious to these things, was about to receive a rude awakening, though she waved it off. "No worries, Rem. Misa has it all planned out!"

The blonde herself hoped that it was true. Could one see the name based on a single letter on the TV screen as well? She rather doubted it. But when she entered the hotel where L was supposed to reside for the second time – on her own, as Ryuuga and Light still hadn't shown up – she spotted L's right-hand man and butler in one waiting for her again, stopping in her tracks after taking a few paces. A foreign name, difficult to pronounce but still crystal clearly written in blood-red katakana…

Misa wasn't certain whether to be pleased or dreading this small victory. It also took all her willpower not to call him by that odd name when they were in the elevator, heading up and into the sky.

"Watari-san?" she forced herself to say instead. "Misa wanted to ask you… are you L's father?"

The elderly gentleman gave a surprised but amused chuckle. "No, no, Amane-san; though thank you for the compliment."

Misa decided to accept it as the truth – it would be far too risky to employ family or friends like this. Assuming L had any friends, that is. Still, she would search for the name Quillsh Wammy on the internet once she got home, for certain, just in case. Perhaps she could come up with something that way. Knowing L's name might be risky on the long run, but Misa knew that once she found Kira, she had to have some kind of bargaining chip for both sides… once she decided what to do once she knew their names, that is.

She really hadn't thought this through too much, but it was too late to back away now.

The only one present from the interns/suspects was Takada, which caused Misa's mood to drop by several points. However, she felt a great surge of relief pass through her when she saw the letters above Kiyomi's head, spelling out her name – the name Misa knew – and thus eliminating her as a possible Kira. That not only showed that Misa wasn't going to die anytime soon, but that her deductive abilities were correct.

"Uh, Misa-Misa?"

Misa was actually surprised when she heard a timid young-sounding male voice address her thusly. It had been so long since someone used this nickname for her, she had almost forgotten it. It was the youngest of the officers, a guy that was likely in his mid or late twenties, she supposed. Nice enough, had introduced himself as Matsui, but now, Misa looked up to see Matsuda Touta spelled above his head. Her nickname for him still applied, though. She wasn't certain what he wanted at first, since he seemed rather nervous about approaching her.

Then, she noticed that he was holding an issue of _Eighteen_ with her on the cover; it was an older magazine, yes, but also one of her best photos, and a pen.

The figurative lightbulb flashed above her head.

"Oh! No problem!" she chirped happily, becoming Misa-Misa for a few moments as she scribbled her signature with a little flourish. "There you go, Matsu!"

Takada let out a disapproving tsk from above her coffee, but she stubbornly refused to look at Misa. The model interpreted it as jealousy. In truth, it was that, but to a greater degree further conviction that Misa was simply unsuited for this kind of work.

"I'll sign one for you too, Kiyomi-chan, if you like." Misa offered deviously, flourishing her pen a bit as Takada continued with her so-called refined face.

"Really, Misa-san, why would I want your signature?" Takada inquired. "A waste of ink and paper both. Besides, you're not likely to find any news about Kira if you only read that kind of magazine."

"Let it go, Misa." Rem noted when the model scowled, ready to give some kind of semi-spicy response but unable to think of one in a hurry. "Let this whole thing go. You are risking your life here. You can use your new powers for law enforcement in a different setting, if you truly wish to follow that path."

Misa refused to listen to such advice.

"If Kiyomi-chan investigated Misa, then I will likely not be considered the stupid one." she said instead, walking off to have a closer look at the room.

She had noticed the obscene quantities of sweets around previously as well, but there seemed to be different kinds there today. She was almost inclined to try them – almost – since they looked so strange.

No wonder Ryuuga agreed with L, if they were being treated with sweets like this. or perhaps L was hoping Kira would develop diabetes. She wondered what the probability of that was and, surprisingly, felt her mood lighten a bit. Today, she would see Ryuuga – finally – and beat him up for not showing up for so long. Today…

"Please excuse our lateness."

"Chief!" Matsuda was immediately on his feet, autograph and magazine forgotten. "You shouldn't be up yet! Did the hospital allow you to go so soon?"

Chief Yagami did indeed look paler than usual and was sporting a cane to help him walk, but other than that, he looked as stern and determined as ever. And he was supported by his son on the left, just in case, which meant they had to enter the door sideways.

"Please, Matsuda-san, could you help my father to a seat? He insisted on coming…" Light said, sounding rather concerned.

Rem flew over to him, circling him once with a rather disgusted look on her face. She then flew back to Misa, who turned around just then, her heart leaping upon hearing her ex-boyfriend's voice.

For a few long moments, she forgot what she should be looking for or that something might be out of the ordinary – she was rather worried about this heart attack that was reportedly Kira's work, something that might have secured Light's innocence.

"Misa…" Rem warned, but the model wasn't listening. She glanced at Light again, despite being disgusted by Takada's proximity and then, seeing the name of her rival shining over her head, finally saw…

Nothing. Letters, yes, which made up his name as norma, but missing was the undecipherable countdown meant to be ticking below it…

"Ryuuz- I mean, Ryuuga, come in; everything is ready, we're waiting." Matsuda seemed to be everywhere now, the red sign above his head a blur to Misa's eyes. The model knew she would have to sit down soon, with the dizziness returning. Briefly, Misa thought she might have missed the sign and rubbed her eyes, just to be certain.

She collapsed into the sofa, her face one of astonishment. And it had to show, because before she knew it, the young police officer was at her side, commenting that she looked feverish.

"I'll go fetch you a glass of water, all right, Misa-Misa? Do you want something else?"

"N-no, water will do." Misa stammered out, urging herself to speak. She felt almost as if another shinigami had appeared in the room. And that was likely true – only she couldn't see them.

Rem's expression was impassive, but it was clear what the shinigami's opinion on the situation was. Had she expected happiness from knowledge?

"Are you sure you don't want medicine?" Matsuda was urging her, "I can go get you something, there should be a pharmacy a few streets away…"

"There is a seventy-eight percent chance that Matsui-san would bring the wrong type of medicine." A familiar weight plopped into the space next to Misa. It wasn't nearly as comforting as she had hoped. "From which stems a sixty-five percent chance that it would make Misa-san feel much worse." Ryuuga promptly ignored Matsuda's protests and helped himself to many of the sugar cubes that had been so neatly prepared.

And Misa, before losing the ability to think for a horrible half-hour, understood why. She was vaguely thankful for knowing enough English to be able to comprehend how the katakana was supposed to be read, but the horror was much greater – especially as each stroke of the letters that spelt out her doom looked like slashes of a knife.

Two words – or only one? It didn't matter at this point.

It was Ryuuga, with his raccoon eyes, fish-faced expression, pasty complexion; Ryuuga, who devoured tons of sweets daily and refused to sit up straight; Ryuuga, who made her laugh and was her very own pervert (though she'd never admit as much), above whose head the horrible letter was written. And it all came crashing down on Misa and she _understood_, even as _L_ studied her with concern and the others spoke to her in worry that she looked ill and should likely go home.

She pushed them all aside after shakily asking where the bathroom was, then sprang up, took one last look at the space where Light's name should have been and sprinted there, slamming the door and collapsing into a heap on the floor, like a rag-doll that had been harshly thrown away – for that was all she was, wasn't she? To _them –_shaking and shivering.


	10. Legally Running

**_EDIT: Rewrite as of 2011._**

I apologize for the severe lack of updates, but there simply was so much to do… anyway, this chapter was turning out very slow, because Misa is, after all, still in love with Light in a way, so transforming her within the span of a few thousand words isn't something easily done. So here we go, trying to do something lie that. In a way.

**o.O.o**

**Legally Running**

**o.O.o**

Her first instinct was to vomit.

Then to scream. And to cry. The last of those, she wasn't able to hold.

Misa-Misa never cried; she offered childish pouts and a trembling upper lip, but that was the extent of her sadness. She was always supposed to be pretty and happy. That was her mantra. Pretty and happy. Misa-Misa was a happy-go-lucky girl with not a care in the world…

…but Amane Misa wasn't bound by such conventions, least of all when locked in a bathroom in an expensive hotel, far away from prying eyes. There were instances when one simply had to let go and release all her inner demons; this was one.

After a few minutes of silent sobs, she shook herself, trying to gain some composure. The final effect of her best efforts was an expression akin to a Stepford wife on the verge of overload; meaning that she still couldn't pull off anything even close to convincing.

The worst thing was, she was painfully aware that she had made a scene that wasn't likely to go unnoticed by either of those whose identities she had just discovered. Once she had calmed down enough to think coherently, she wanted to slap herself for her stupidity.

Stupid Misa, what a joke she was to them both, she thought miserably. All this time, she had thought that she only needed to prove herself and then everything would fall into place.

Apparently not.

Apparently, the only reason why Ryuu- L, she reminded herself, repeating the hated letter in her mind; never Ryuuga-san again. Only L – intended to exploit her connection to Light, because there was absolutely no other reason for him to stick around and befriend her. _Pretend_to befriend her.

And she had actually believed that someone liked her not because of Misa-Misa, but because of her private self… another silly, ridiculous assumption.

As for Light… at a happier time, she would have gleefully and gladly believed that he wanted to keep her out of harm's way by breaking up with her, but the fact that he had brought another girl into the picture and _proposed to her_ was something that prevented her from rejoicing at the prospect. Still, she hoped… but somehow, she was beginning to think that both Light and Ryuuga – Kira and L – had begun to see her as a connection between the two of them that could be exploited as a strategic advantage.

After all, she'd never be _smart_ enough to figure something like this out… right?

"Misa… forgive me." a sepulchral voice echoed from somewhere above her. The blonde wiped away the stains of tears, ruining her make-up in the process, but she didn't care.

"Rem has nothing to apologize for!" she said with certainty, shaking her head fervently. She still had enough presence of mind not to blame the shinigami for her own folly. "Rem is a great friend to Misa and wanted to protect her. Misa was just…" Again, the tears came, without any answers. "Why does it have to be like this?"

She had sacrificed half of her life, she realized in a moment of panic... for nothing. Only pain.

"I don't know, Misa."

It was a difficult admission for Rem, though she didn't know precisely which situation she was referring to. The model was usually perky to the point of ridiculousness, but she possessed positive traits to equal the negative ones. Neither of the two humans she cared for that had inadvertently betrayed her by being on different sides of the chessboard were in any way her match, but the shinigami doubted her partner would see it that way.

"Misa… if it will make you feel better, I can kill them… both of them. Neither will even realize it."

At least she tried. But Misa's eyes immediately bulged and her pigtails shook in passionate denial. "NO! No, Rem can't do that! That's-!"

"Talking to yourself?" Misa quickly swallowed her words when she finally understood that the door to the bathroom had opened and closed, allowing the somberly-clad figure of Takada Kiyomi entrance. The girl folded her arms, her eyebrows knitting together in amusement. "I thought you were only having a diva moment; yet here you are, displaying all the signs of hysteria or a beginning mental illness."

"Go away Kiyomi; I'm not in the mood for this." Misa hiccupped, thanking her lucky stars that her rival hadn't heard most of her conversation. She had absolutely no need to be written off as a nutcase now. Though admittedly, she might be turning into one.

"And she speaks in first person." Takada announced to the world in general. "Lo and behold. Are you planning on moping around here for much longer? I was asked to see if you're all right, but that's obviously not the case."

"Misa… Misa will be fine. Misa just needs a few minutes to readjust her make-up." the blonde made up wildly, putting on a brief and unconvincing smile. "Then everything will be ok."

Takada sighed. If she didn't make sure, she'd be the one who'd get chewed upon. "Look, not that I care, but what are you getting hysterical for?"

Misa thought for a moment, considering things. She didn't like Takada in any way; the girl had been mean and discourteous to her, giving her no indication of feeling differently towards her over these past few months. However, she was also smarter than Misa in terms of book-smarts, which, being a different point of view, might be helpful now.

"Kiyomi… have you ever thought that there might be something bigger than you, that you never saw before it was… right in your face?"

"What do you think the whole Kira case is about?" Takada asked flatly, "This is about the fate of the world, melodramatic as that might sound. If you don't understand that, you don't have any business being here."

"But you support Kira… why are you _here_?" At least Misa paid attention to what the various clubs and societies at university talked about – this being one thing.

"Because I was chosen… and because I want to be here." Takada said, her chest puffing out a bit. "Make a difference. The better question is, why are _you_ here?" she folded her arms around her willowy frame, raising a dark eyebrow. "Never mind not knowing what possessed L to pick you; you don't have any reason for being here."

"Misa thinks… I think I do." the blonde muttered darkly, rising to her feet like a doll compelled to move.

Takada was somewhat perplexed; as if with the push of a button, Amane had flipped from fragile flower to a kind of mindless but determined zombie. She got up and surveyed the damage her face had sustained – black mascara was streaming down her cheeks and her eyeshadow was beyond hope. Taking some toilet paper from the nearest stall, Misa wet it in the sink and proceeded to rub the professional-looking paints from her face.

Without the make-up, her small frame added to the impression that Misa was sixteen at most. Her clothes, elegant before, now looked frumpy and unsuitable for her, along with the severe hairstyle. And then, as if a light had been turned on, Misa put on an almost frighteningly cool smile – the almost hysterical gleam in her eyes made even the calm Takada almost step back – and calmly bounced back to the investigation team meeting room.

Rem floated behind her, watching the girl with some mild concern, followed by a thoroughly stunned Takada.

The others had apparently gone over most of the major issues in her absence and Misa received only a few annoyed or slightly studious looks when she returned, wearing an expression that suggested that the world was all sunshine and unicorns and that currently, she wanted nothing more than to shoot all the unicorns and put on dark glasses to tune out the sunlight.

The last part, very few noticed. Smiling when she wanted nothing more than killing someone with strawberry cheesecake was more difficult than she had anticipated, but Misa managed.

"Misa-san, are you sure you're all right? Perhaps it would be better if you left for the day."

That Matsuda, he really seemed a fan. Of course, she was well aware that she had probably seemed more than a little hysterical to all of them. So what. It wasn't as if any of them really cared about her "professional" opinions, right? She was here only to provide amusement and smile pretty and make _them_ wonder what she meant to the other.

For the first time in her life, Misa fleetingly wished death on someone. Remembering that she herself could bring it now scared her, but the fear passed through her only briefly. At least Light had merely cut her out of his life.

And he had broken her heart.

Was it to protect her? Or was she a liability to his work? Would he have ever let her know?

Had he been Kira even then? If not, why did he hurt her so?

Had he ever loved her? Did he love her now?

Why the pretense? _Lying to her face and pretending that they were actually friends—_

She abruptly stopped there. Misa-Misa was never upset. Pretty and happy and coy. Good pet. Nice girl. Who cared about Amane Misa, right?

"I'm all right now." Misa-Misa said, smiling and briefly closing her eyes in that motion. She saw the searing red light of the names and numbers above their heads even so. the images were almost burned into her brain now. "It was just the pressure coming down on me, I guess."

The young officer relaxed briefly, coping with the situation with a little lame joke. "For one moment, we were worried Kira had chosen you as a victim."

Neither Light nor L even flinched at that, not that she was watching either of them. Takada scoffed slightly, but otherwise ignored all that.

Above Misa, Rem frowned. Would she use her Death Note now? The easiest way to solve Misa's anguish was to kill everyone in the room, but Misa wouldn't forgive her something like that. besides, her being the only survivor would only single her out as Kira.

"Ha ha, yes… that would be interesting, wouldn't it?"

Though admittedly, she certainly had the skill at lying to everyone to be able to pull that off.

**o.O.o**

The first place Misa went to after leaving the investigation team was the university library.

Rem went along with her, but Misa asked her not to help with the research she currently wanted to do. The shinigami agreed, but remained adrift around the great corridors and halls, ready to come to Misa's aid, if necessary.

It wasn't, really. Misa wasn't concerned with such things right now anyway. She was busy rummaging through various books about criminal law, philosophy and general ethics. She didn't even know where to start.

Actually, she did. It was in a dictionary under the keywords 'utopia' and 'dystopia'.

Some of the language still didn't make sense to her, but she continued reading it all stubbornly, trying to find something similar to her situation, to the Kira case.

Rem had already suggested taking away her Death Note and, in all honesty, Misa had considered it – walking away. But…

She loved Light. She could help him triumph. He was now more than just her love – he was her hero. The one who brought justice to those who had been set free by the unjust justice of the world.

But she wanted to be with Ryuuga. She didn't want him to be L. She wanted to believe that he had spent these months with her simply because he liked her – because he was a weird but devoted fan. Not a detective plotting her use.

She could still walk away…

The stalemate wouldn't last forever. Sooner or later, one of them would kill or arrest the other. They were both smart, much smarter than her, but even a genius could make a stupid mistake. Just like a ditz like her could stumble across the truth.

It had cost her half her lifespan, but Misa had accepted that. in any case, she reasoned that if the shinigami who had died for her sake now existed as part of her lifespan, her life probably still was longer than that of an average human being. She liked to think that way.

Was Kira a human being, a god, a savior? Did anyone have the right to exercise absolute power?

Who has power has right. Misa agreed with Machiavelli on this once she stumbled across his philosophy. After all, unjust people used their power to escape justice.

_I am justice._

_She_ had the power of Kira as well now… did that make her a god?

"Amane-san… what are you doing?"

Above her, stepping over the pile of books she had taken out, was Misora Naomi, still a college lecturer and former FBI agent and one of the people in which Misa really didn't trust right now.

"Oh, good day, Misora-sensei. Just doing some research on the current project." she said, trying to sound blithe. But her frustration was leaking through the mask of serenity and perkiness and Misora saw it.

"Ah. No details allowed, then. I understand. But you look very much down." There was something frantic about the image of Amane, who no doubt dressed like this only to go to funerals, digging through books with a fierce energy in her gaze. "Is something the matter?"

The model gave a somewhat undignified sigh. "I… I think I'm not the best person to be doing this, Misora-sensei. This… this can't be solved, it just can't!" With that, she tossed the latest book over her shoulder in frustration. It landed on one of the many piles behind her.

"What are you talking about? Have you received instructions beyond your authorization?" Misora's voice was sharp and held the beginnings of an interrogation. She actually knew very little about what L was planning to do with these kids, but she knew that Amane was somehow a crucial part of the process. Her having come to the university like this was no coincidence. In fact, Misora was almost certain that the model had some sort of connection to Kira. "Perhaps I could help somehow – I don't have access to the investigation in any way, but I could at least advise you, if you wish it."

"I'm not sure how much I can say…"

Now if only it was so easy to coax it out of her… of course, it was possible that Amane herself knew nothing.

"There isn't anyone here at this hour, but it would be advisable to not use specific names and terms. Try to be broad." The ex-FBI agent suggested, pulling up a seat.

Misa wasn't entirely certain about this, but… well, she couldn't exactly confide in anyone but her sister, who was away from Tokyo. Rem wouldn't understand human emotions this well and as long as she used discretion…

"All right. I think… I think I might have figured out something related to the investigation. The information could help some people, but… hurt… others. Very." she emphasized, backtracking through her own sentences to see if she hadn't revealed much.

Misora frowned. "Do you have any evidence regarding your discovery, or is it simply a theory?"

"I guess… a theory. B-but now that I… _see_ it, making connections might be quicker, because I know where to look." It was so obvious to her, though obviously Misora would never understand her emphasis on those few particular words. Or, if she did, she would never make the connection.

After all, what connection was there to make? No one apart from her and perhaps Light knew about the shinigami eyes.

"I see. Can this theory implicate you in any way?"

"W-what?"

"You understand that if you possess any information relevant to the case and it is traced back to you – along with the fact that you didn't share it with _him_ when you should have, the probability of you being a suspect might rise a notch." Misora explained calmly, studying the model for a moment. "Although in your case, it might be a risk worth taking."

"You are saying Misa isn't smart enough to be Kira." Before Misora could respond in any way, the blonde smiled just a bit stiffly. "That's fine. Anyone would assume that, I guess."

"Quite the contrary, Amane-san. In the last few months, your performance has been more than up to standard for this university. In all honesty, I believe you could be Kira. Theoretically."

Misa blinked, eying her as if she had dropped out of the sky in front of her. "Y-you do?"

"Of course." Misora nodded without any kind of surprise at this reaction. "Any of those chosen for the investigation could be, as you all have your respective strengths that make you possible candidates. With you, it is obfuscation."

"Eh?" Misa was still a bit distracted by the revelation that Misora-sensei apparently didn't think her silly.

"Your acting skills." Misora emphasized without patronizing. "The change in your academic record isn't what most people would expect judging by your profession and apparent personality. Of course, this could be partly based on determination."

"I see."

"You haven't told me much at all, Amane-san, but I think I can piece things together." Misora noted. Apparently, her own hypothesis that all this was being done to corner the true Kira in some way was proving to be true. But what had given Amane the basis for the theory she had – and why couldn't she prove it if something had triggered this reaction? "Without knowing the details, I can't effectively advise you, but…if you see a definite link between Kira and the person you suspect, follow it."

"But… for all that might be wrong with this, Kira has helped people very much. If this person proves to be Kira and I expose them, then everything will be back to the way it was – bad people will be allowed to walk free when _justice_ decides to let them."

Misora stood up, giving the model a hard look. "Amane-san, forgive me for putting this so bluntly, but can you still say that after having been given the chance to speak with L?"

Though even the detective wasn't all-powerful, he was, in many ways, similar to Kira. going around the law in some cases only to make certain that it was followed on the long run. Doing what was necessary… but also never committing atrocities such as Kira was doing. The difference between the two wasn't that L respected a human life while Kira considered it merely a record of deeds.

It was that L never forgot that it took a human to correct humanity, not a self-styled god. Someone who rose too high above the problem couldn't be trusted to find the solution.

Misa didn't answer at first. Until Naomi was gone, she actually held her silence. She imagined those past few months. She now knew how the lambs felt when the wolf tossed aside its sheepskin. At first, she did.

"Oh yes I can." she whispered quietly to herself.

By the time Rem returned, the piles of books were gone – unnecessary baggage – and Misa had decided.


	11. Legally Creative

_**Edit**_**: Rewrite as of 2011.**

Lack of inspiration caused this wonderful story to stagnate for a little while. However, I'm back now and ready to finish it no matter what! The ending has finally been devised, so I'm guessing at about three or four chapters left at most, as I don't want to drag things out too much. Also, if I start leaning towards the idealism side of the scale of cynism vs. idealism, please remember that this story is meant to be mainly humor, disregarding the darker motif of the previous chapter or two.

Also, by popular demand, L is getting back into the spotlight in this chapter, so I hope you like it!

**o.O.o**

**Legally Creative**

**o.O.o**

On her way home, Misa actually marveled at the simplicity of her own idea.

Of course, she was aware of the fact that she wasn't a complex planner by any means – if she was, she likely would have come up with a more imaginative solution, but she left the gambits to the professionals, who were currently locked in a stalemate.

Nevertheless, she was actually rather impressed by her own invention. The problem was that she wasn't yet certain that she would be doing the right thing. Whichever path she took, someone would suffer… and she would regret either solution. However, she knew that if she let things be and allowed others to act before she did, there would be trouble.

Rem, for her part, knew Misa well enough by this point to be able to recognize determination in her eyes. She was lightyears away from the collapsed state she had descended into back in the bathroom stall. And even the hysteria edging with madness she had displayed then had subsided. The human was struggling to come to terms with some decision… and, for the first time, the shinigami wasn't entirely certain what that was.

She knew very little about love; most of it she had picked up from studying Gealous and his quiet admiration of her now-protégée, though he had known they could never be. With Misa, things were not so straightforward. The girl was practically bursting with overenthusiastic emotion, but had no idea where to direct it. it didn't help that the two candidates for it were potentially the worst choices she could have had. Misa couldn't really be blamed for her confusion.

However, Rem found this new focus in her partner eerie.

"What are you planning to do, Misa?" the shinigami couldn't help asking when they finally returned to her apartment. Misa immediately shrugged off her jacket and roll up the sleeves of her blouse. She was edgy enough to forget about the constrictiveness of her clothing, though she did kick off her uncomfortable heels and shake the pins out of her hair to allow it to fall freely.

She then threw herself on the sofa, looking surprisingly business-like. Misa could do a serious face when she had cause to.

"Rem... you said that is the holder of a Death Note say they relinquishes their ownership of it… they lose all memory of what happened since they got it, right?" the blonde asked, though she already knew the answer. She simply needed to hear the confirmation again.

"Indeed. But…" The shinigami froze. Misa had already stated quite firmly that she wasn't going to relinquish ownership of her own Death Note, so… "Misa, you cannot possibly be planning to-"

A firm nod. "Misa is."

It was crazy.

She would never succeed.

Not that Rem could claim to know Yagami Light even moderately well, but her impression of his façade of generic politeness and smoothness wasn't favorable. How humans couldn't see that he was as fake as the color of Misa's hair, she would never know. However, she did know Kira by reputation. Even a suggestion of giving up his powers would likely cause a loner like him to consider having Misa eliminated. Her connection to him would likely cause him some measure of trouble, but Rem was quite certain he'd do it without hesitation.

"If Kira wanted to give up the Death Note, he'd have done it long ago." Besides, it would be easier to just outright kill him and then stop the so-called judgment. She even offered to do it herself, so that Misa didn't have any regrets. "You cannot possibly believe that anything you say to him will make him change his mind." She added when the model adamantly refused.

"No, no." Misa could hardly persuade herself that Kira was doing something wrong, let alone persuade Kira himself of that. However… "My idea will require some testing, though."

It seemed a bit too simple to work that well.

She would have to use the Death Note for the first time.

It was a strange thought, though she firmly believed she understood the principle of the thing completely by now. She trusted Rem completely, as she hadn't had any reason not to, so the only thing that remained was actually… doing it.

Everyone fantasized about killing once in a while, Misa knew. But actually doing it, despite the fact that the strokes of a pen or pencil might be rather dissatisfying to some peoples' bloodlust; that was something completely different. If she didn't have a motive, Misa would never have considered doing it. If her weapon was anything but the swift and quiet strike of a heart attack or supernatural manipulation, Misa would have likely given up.

The thing was, she would have to test this on someone completely unrelated to the case yet still somewhat of a criminal, so that it wouldn't stick out too much on the long run. But not too much of a criminal, as she didn't want to accidentally pick one of Light's potential targets. That would ruin the purpose of her experiment.

Rem approved of this idea once she found out that Misa wouldn't be dissuaded.

The shinigami also vanished about an hour after their argument. Misa suspected that she was going out to keep track of Light or L, since Rem couldn't be seen by either of them.

What she wasn't expecting was visitors, thus the sudden knocks on her door were most unexpected. She had been fiddling with her Death Note – just examining it thoroughly, rather like a jeweler would a precious gem – and the noise startled her.

The blonde frowned, slightly out of sorts. She wasn't expecting visitors and her friends knew to call her before they came calling. First things first, though – no one could see her Death Note.

The knocking intensified somewhat, so Misa quickly scrambled to her feet and ran to her room, opening her closet and shoving the black notebook behind several stacks of shoeboxes. It was highly improbable that someone would look there and barely possible that they would do so without her permission.

Then, closing the doors, she sprinted back to the living room and smoothed out her hair. Misa-Misa always had to be presentable, even if it was just to her neighbors. Photos could be taken everywhere. If it was an autograph request, though, she certainly wasn't in the mood.

Taking a deep breath, she actually didn't even bother checking who it was before opening with a rather plastic smile fixed on her face.

"Hi, how can I-" Misa abruptly cut herself off when she finally managed to have a look at who was standing in the doorway. "R-Ryuuga-san!" she blurted out at the sight of the rumpled-looking detective, highly grateful for once that habit prevented her from speaking his true name – which was still very fresh in her mind. But in the face of the miracle of him coming visit her – which was downright astounding – she forgot to be cautious and panicky just for a moment. "How… what are you doing here?"

Surprisingly, knowing who stood before her didn't change Misa's manner all that much. Combined with the fact that this was indeed a thing most unheard of _and_ that she wasn't quite certain how come he knew her home address, L only took note of the fact that she had apparently overcome whatever had troubled her when he last saw her.

"You seemed highly agitated when I last saw you, Misa-san; it's only logical that someone should check upon you in such a state." Of course, that was only part of the reason why he was there, but one of the more important parts, in any case. "May I come in?" he asked, glancing briefly into the room visible behind the model. Perhaps cameras would indeed have been a more efficient method of surveillance after her rather outstanding outburst earlier in the day, but L didn't want to jump to conclusions without some kind of evidence.

"I, uh, yes… yes, of course…" The blonde stepped back and allowed him space to enter, fidgeting slightly. One would think she was actually plotting something and was very bad at concealing her guilt, if her manner was to be judged. Still, L was reasonably certain Misa wasn't directly involved with Kira (read: _Light)_ and his plotting, but… it could be nothing. It could also be something. Right now, it had about an even chance of going both ways.

"Would Ryuuga-san like something to drink?" Misa offered weakly, clearing her throat while L opted for sitting on the couch in his usual manner. A normal person might have thought that he was being too paranoid to be looking into female mood swings so deeply, but L was anything but ordinary… and normal, he could freely admit. Not that it bothered him much.

"Coffee, if you have any." The probability of Amane Misa having cake in her fridge was less than one percent. She had made her opinion on cakes quite clear early on in their acquaintance. A rather illogical choice on her part, one had to say.

"Tea it is, then." Finally, she seemed to relax a bit as she slipped into a somewhat childish persona closer to Misa-Misa than herself. The difference between the two was that the current Misa offered a slightly apologetic smile. "Misa doesn't drink coffee. It makes your teeth go yellow. Besides, caffeine in black tea is in equal measure. Lemon?" she asked, holding up a small basket of various fruit.

"Just sugar."

By this point, Misa knew L well enough not to ask how many spoonfuls or cubes; instead, she brought the whole pot. It was almost full, since she barely ever used it and when she did, it she practically counted grains. "There you go."

"You appear somewhat confused, Misa-san." L remarked when the model almost tried to stir the tea with a fork by accident.

Misa knew very well that this was the moment when she had to justify her reputation as an immaculate actress and cover up her previous blunder. "Well, obviously." She was staring at the tea as she shrugged. Good thing he had so many quirks she could improvise on, especially the fact that he was a certified pervert. If it were someone like Light… well, she would have had a harder time inventing reasons and phrases. Not that she doubted L would be hard to deceive.

"Ryuuga-san never visits Misa, only calls in the middle of the night when he feels like it." she accused, glancing at him pointedly. How he got up to her apartment, she had no idea – she had just remembered that he was the one who usually drove her to the university, so that explained how _L_knew her address. It was still bizarre to think of him as Ryuuga. "And besides, this could all be a cover for your own investigation, so Misa doesn't know what to think."

"Is it that surprising that I should be concerned for your state of health, Misa-san?" L asked, tilting his head to the side in interest or something close to him. With his unblinking gaze, it was difficult to tell or to look for too long without turning away. It had been a long time since Misa last noticed how lifeless his eyes seemed. "Your behavior at the hotel was rather unusual."

He didn't _look_ like an enemy of her ideals, even after all this. But she wasn't naïve enough to underestimate him.

"Misa is fine." she said off-handedly, hoping he'd leave the matter be.

Disappointingly but predictably, he didn't.

"The first step to solving a problem is acknowledging it." L announced sagely when she finally brought the tea to him. Another rope she could latch onto; and Misa did, scoffing.

"You make it sound as if Misa has a drug addiction or something!" When he didn't reply, the model briefly considered throwing a pillow at him, but instead plopped down into the sofa as far from him as she could without dropping off the edge. "Ryuuga-san is a horrible, horrible person, not Misa's therapist!"

"I didn't mean to insinuate anything of the sort, Misa-san." L noted, diligently pouring as much sugar as the amount of tea in his cup could contain into it. "But your sudden distress is a matter of some concern to me. Since it occurred during the investigation team meeting, there is a high probability that it has something to do with that and, as far as I am aware, of the people who you are authorized to share information regarding the investigation with, I am the only one with whom you are on friendly terms."

Though it was a rather unflattering observation stated with the dryness of logic, something in Misa wanted to believe that this was an actual expression of concern. However, she decided that jumping to conclusions without evidence was something that could get her into trouble later on.

She needed to hear this.

"Is Ryuuga-san saying… you were worried about me?"

"Of course I wouldn't wish your well-being to be threatened in any way…"

It wasn't her fault – not really – that she couldn't help but relish that which she this time correctly perceived as sincerity. And, like many things with Misa, happiness had a natural response from her. in this case, an embrace. Of course, if it had been someone else and L wasn't holding his precious cup of heavily sweetened tea, the attacker would likely have ended with their head stuck into the nearest wall through the force of a well-aimed kick, but having Misa – there wasn't any other word for it – tackle him in this manner when there was a 5,8 percent chance that hot liquid could spill from his cup and injure them both wasn't something he had anticipated, especially not with her current emotional state in mind.

"Misa-san…" Balancing the teacup was proving most difficult; the fact that the tea was still inside it was nothing short of a miracle.

"Ryuuga-san will be careful, all right?" All Light had to do was ask for the Eyes and his shinigami would give them to him too easily. She didn't really know why he hadn't done so yet, but then again, half a lifetime was a heavy price to pay.

L frowned, trying and failing to subtly move away from the model and her grip of iron around his torso. "I'm afraid I don't understand, Misa-san."

"Because Misa would never forgive Ryuuga-san if he got himself killed." That was the single truth that complicated what might have otherwise been a very straightforward worldview. "And angels would find Ryuuga-san too perverted for heaven and the whole system would collapse before I could get there to fix it." Misa added as she finally perceived his discomfort and pulled back with a reproachful waggle of her index finger. Of this, she was most certain.

It didn't escape L that Misa was doing a rather admirable job of steering the conversation away from the topic he wished to discuss. "Will you tell me what upset you, Misa-san?"

"It's not something Ryuuga-san can fix." the model noted, in complete honesty. She was a miserable liar and she knew it far too well, therefore Misa made a policy of telling the truth as often as possible, especially when she could tell it from a different angle. "Misa just figured something out and got a little sick in the stomach… girl troubles, you know." Most guys would stop nagging after this kind of response, since very few males were interested in knowing the… inner workings of the female body, which her words should imply.

Of course L showed no signs of discomfort or a changed expression; Misa doubted he understood her implication and, if so, he was likely as knowledgeable about biology as about everything except the obvious, in that percentile-calculating manner of his. He did look rather flustered still, though, which was somewhat-kind of-strangely adorable, in a very weird kind of way.

"You will be all right, then?"

"I think so. I hope so." Misa shook away her solemn mood. She couldn't appear not herself. If she was the one who was to end this conflict, L must never know. After all, it was probable that he would leave her after investigation – which hurt strangely, considering how much the very revelation of his identity should have stung – and Misa decided that if that was going to happen soon, she shouldn't waste time in childish anger. "Anyway, Ryuuga-san is here now, so that alone is cause for celebration."

The fact that Misa changed the topic with the speed of light didn't surprise L any further, but the probability of her discomfort being caused by something related to the Kira investigation had risen by at least two percent. However, even he knew when to stop pushing before an interrogated person shut out the world entirely. More importantly, there was one paradox he was faced with right now.

"A proper celebration requires cake, Misa-san." As he had previously concluded, the probability of Amane Misa having cake in her very residence was decidedly low. She might have bought some if she knew he was coming, but that wasn't something he had planned or what she should know about. Even cake had to be sacrificed for the sake of investigations sometimes.

The surprising thing was that Misa chose this moment to triumphantly stick out her tongue at him.

"Says you! A celebration with me is better than a celebration with cake." she proclaimed, bouncing off the sofa rather perkily.

That, in L's eyes, was a contradiction of logic. "How so?"

The model had already rushed off into her kitchen and proceeded to practically rummage through various drawers with the tenacity worthy of the Mongol hordes before finally producing two plates of possibly the sweetest food he had ever seen the model hold, much less eat. A large box of vitamin hard candy and what seemed to be chocolate for diabetics – completely devoid of sugar, which defeated the very purpose of eating candy in the first place – and, rather humbly, placed the modest stash in front of the detective.

"Misa was saving this for the exam period, since Ryuuga-san said that sugar helps with learning, but with the Kira case going on…" she shrugged and offered the candy box to him. "Well, help yourself."

The detective didn't need to be told twice – except he was apparently uncertain which flavor to try – and reached for two pieces at a time, examining them carefully, almost comically (Misa hid a giggle at this point) before deciding that they were apparently edible and trying one. Apparently, he liked them, because he didn't sound very concerned in his next question. "You aren't having any?"

If sugar indeed had the power of enhancing one's mental capacity, then Misa certainly didn't want it. She had already figured out much more than she wanted to. "Maybe later. After all, I can't tell Ryuuga-san the details of my brilliant case against one of the Kira suspects." she added rather coyly.

"As you yourself said that you didn't believe I was Kira, you have only two other options to choose from, Misa-san." How L could speak so clearly while chewing on the candy, Misa had no idea. Somehow, he actually didn't look entirely ridiculous either. "Also, considering your bias for Yagami-kun, I'd say that there is a high chance that you will choose Takada-san as your suspect."

"Misa isn't biased!"

L was unfazed, but if he was capable of giving flat looks, then she was on the receiving end of one. "Suppose that you didn't know either Yagami-kun or Takada-san personally. Considering from an impartial point of view, which one of them do you believe exhibits a behavioral pattern closer to the profile of Kira we have constructed?"

"Arguing with Ryuuga-san is pointless." Misa huffed, "Haven't you ever tried using your gut instinct?" Of course, she was arguing only for the sake of arguing now, because there was no way, with his obvious focus on Light, that he would even consider Takada as a suspect.

"Acting simply on instinct has a high probability of error." Coming here hadn't been an instinctual thing, really, at least not entirely, though for now, there was no wrong in it that he can see.

"Well, I still think Kiyomi-chan is a repressed Kira supporter. She just… well, she gives off the vibe, in a way."

"And what does your instinct say about Yagami-kun?" Emotional attachments to suspects were dangerous things, as she was clearly demonstrating now. Misa was actually a very interesting subject for study, since she possessed such a wide array of emotions and often let them rule her freely. Not a desirable trait in an investigator, perhaps, but if the passion could be directed, she could actually yet make a good lawyer, if only by allowing others to underestimate her.

"It says that Ryuuga-san is too focused on him. Misa thinks… I think you _want_ him to be Kira, because you can't imagine your deduction being wrong."

There _was_ a brain under that pale hair; more than that. There was a mind struggling to absorb an entire world that, were it not for her connection to Light, might have been forever closed to her without her regretting not having been part of it.

Which, naturally, led to a painful discovery.

"Misa-san."

"Hm?"

"I think you shouldn't waste these now." Much as it pained L, he handed her back the box, keeping only the two sweets he already had. They were a bit too sour for his tastes anyway, though it certainly was progress on her part to move to something so sugary (for her). "You'll need them for the exams."

Misa frowned sulkily. Didn't he like the candy? "But I don't have anything else sweet…"

"Also, you should seriously consider investing in proper sweets." Now that was definitely criticism. How was she to know what candy was best? Moreover, who was he to judge her choices of candy? What was he now, the Sugar Plum Fairy? "These chemically enhanced products aren't good for your health."

Oh. Concern. Well, that was good, Misa supposed… even though he meant that she should buy normal cakes.

"Ryuuga-san… Misa never asked you why you are so fundamentally against Kira." Which was the truth, really. She knew why _L_ wanted to catch Kira, but Misa found that his personal standing in the matter actually interested her a lot. After all, rumor had it that L only took cases that interested him personally. Perhaps he was in this for the challenge, but she rather thought there was a bit more to it. "Since I answered you when you asked why I supported Kira, it's only fair if you answer as well."

The detective didn't look at all fazed by the question, though he did shift in his sitting position somewhat, taking another sip of his tea.

"Misa-san, imagine, just for a moment, that you are Kira. you discover some means of killing people without anyone being able to identify you, without you having to be present to commit the act." Misa listened intently; this was one of the rare chances when she could try and discern something from his body language, as he wasn't shutting her out… for the moment. "Being you, with your firm belief that the legal system is inertly flawed, you decide that those that committed heavy transgressions, such as murder, rape or terrorism, deserve the heaviest penalty no matter what. By chance, all these sudden deaths are identified as being carried out by a single person. A… vigilante, if you will. Yet, contrary to what you believe are your best intentions, part of society denounces you as being a criminal yourself and begin their efforts to hunt you down. What do you do?"

"I don't understand why you're telling me this."

"You believe you are in the right." L continued as if she hadn't spoken, laying out the whole Kira case in rather plain terms. "You are doing society a service. By that logic, the ones trying to stop you are enemies of society. Are you beginning to see the pattern here?"

"What if Kira was chosen for this kind of power?" Misa challenged.

"What if he wasn't?" L countered, stirring his tea once again, as the sugar had stopped melting in it. how he could drink liquid sugar as if it were water, Misa had no idea.

Though she didn't like it, though she stood firm in her belief that cleansing the world of criminals was right, Misa felt she understood his viewpoint. She hadn't been chosen to receive her Death Note; it had been pure chance. And she understood well that innocent people had died because they were in the way… and, in light of her heartbreak and resulting disappointment in seeing that she would never be perfect enough for Light, she was forced to wonder if the world would ever be.

The model gave a rather lopsided smile. "Misa wishes Ryuuga-san didn't have the annoying habit of being right about most things. Except fashion." she added, glancing at his attire briefly. Not even nearly immaculate. Rather like her.

Admittedly – though he by no means made a habit of wishing – there were occasionally times when L would have preferred not to have said habit. However, it did manage to be the reason he had been able to taste various cakes from all over the world, so who was he to complain?

The probability of Misa getting angry if he made a comment regarding the fashion statement was about 96 percent. This time, L followed that particular gut instinct. "Being right is my job, Misa-san." he said instead, sipping the tea. It wasn't the best he had ever tasted, but it was remarkably pleasing.

Being nice or considerate wasn't part of his job, obviously. Nevertheless, Misa only rolled her eyes and turned her attention to her own tea for the moment, sending whatever kami-sama was watching a bargain proposal: if her plan worked, she promised she would not only go to a patisserie and actually eat the most chocolate-coated cake they had there… she'd drag L along and actually let him choose the cake.

Now was the time to see if more than a god of death watched over her from the beyond.


	12. Legally Chessmaster

Long time, no see, but, as usual, real life got into the way of things. Besides, it was quite difficult to write this scene, for obvious reasons!

So sit back and enjoy the show – about two chapters to go.

**o.O.o**

**Legally Chessmaster**

**o.O.o**

There was an 87 percent chance that Amane Misa's sudden change of behavior had something to do with the Kira case.

This could, of course, be only stress talking, but, as far as the several months' worth of acquaintance had shown L, while the blonde was the type to change moods very quickly, her swings weren't this extreme. If indeed this was something that could be considered an ordinary mood swing.

L had spent the better part of the hour after the meeting of the taskforce had ended trying to see if this figured into the Kira case somehow, due to its sudden and unpredictable nature.

More and more, though, it was being brought to his attention – mostly by Watari, though highly subtly, to his credit – that, as time passed, Misa seemed less and less essential to the investigation. This sudden turnabout had the chance of figuring into the case.

It was far too extreme to be a mere coincidence.

Aside from that, Yagami Light was also showing uncommon interest in these recent developments. All three of his _fellow students_ remained tailed and it seemed that each of them was on their own right now, but wouldn't be for long.

The trap was beginning to close in around its victims. The only question was how to move next. The sudden heart attack Yagami Soichiro had suffered was perhaps a sign that his son wasn't Kira… but then again, it hadn't been a fatal heart attack, which was part of the reason L simply couldn't give up the idea that this was the man he was looking for.

In the end, perhaps it was best to wait right now. Let things take their course. Allow the plan to unfold.

And call Misa to see if she was feeling better. For investigative reasons, of course.

"Your dinner, Ryuuzaki."

Watari's delivery of cakes and coffee was precise, punctual and professional. L considered it a blessing that the elderly man didn't judge him, especially since he was about ninety-four percent certain Watari knew what he was going to do the minute he left.

"Hello hello, this is Misa-Misa!" Even L could tell that part of the perkiness in her voice was forced, which, considering him not believing social intelligence was a necessary trait for a hermit super detective, was quite an achievement.

"Misa-san, are you feeling all right?"

"Oh, Ryuuga-san!" A hint of panic, a touch of gladness and a whole lot of surprise. "I wasn't expecting-" Of course. "Do you need something from me?"

L counted to three before responding, considering the best way to inquire about her current whereabouts. "I wanted to ask if you are all right, Misa-san. You appeared to be most distressed during the meeting."

"Oh, that." Fifty-eight percent chance of her sounding gloomy. "Ryuuga-san shouldn't worry. Girl problems, mood swings, whatever you want to call it."

A beat. "You wouldn't happen to be pregnant by any chance, Misa-san?"

"WHAT?" The ear-shattering syllable was almost enough for him to drop the phone, but L was of the calm sort who simply put it further away from his ear.

"It is my understanding that the hormones released during the state of pregnancy might result in uncustomary behavior in a woman, due to the…"

"RYUUGA-SAN IS A PERVERT!" Misa proclaimed for the world to hear. "That means NO! Misa just felt bad, that's all!"

"You should go see a doctor, then, Misa-san, perhaps…"

"Enough, Ryuuga-san, or I'll get angry again!" Had she stopped being angry? Was there a logical way to be angrier than angry if one was in a state of irritation? "Bad day is all. Misora-sensei and I had a nice talk, though, so Misa worked things out."

"I see." Perhaps he would contact agent Misora again soon. "You are at the university, then?" At this late hour, it meant that she had come across something that might be relevant.

"I just got home. The way this case is going, my agent is going to go ballistic." She sighed almost inaudibly. "Misa is getting tired of this. I wish all this was up to someone else."

"You were chosen for a reason, Misa-san."

The model laughed liltingly. "Oh, yes. Misa is still flattered, but still tired of stuff as well. Does Ryuuga-san think I should send L an autograph to make him work faster? If he's a pervert like Ryuuga-san, it might work. Don't panty thieves get rejuvenated by getting more stuff?"

"I cannot believe you've just compared me to a panty thief, Misa-san." His perversions were limited strictly to saving cases, eating sweets and supporting a certain idol who was his temporary friend. "I see no value in collecting undergarments one doesn't intend to wear purely for sentimental reasons…"

"And Ryuuga-san becomes perverted again." He had the oddest feeling Misa was shaking her head. "How will you ever get a girlfriend if you scare away all of them like this!"

That stemmed from the assumption that he wished for a girlfriend. "You are a girl and seem to have gotten used to my habits, Misa-san."

"You… you want Misa to bee your girlfriend?" If her voice could be broken down into emotion, it would be approximately eighty-three percent incredulous, seventeen percent strangely hopeful.

"Are you offering, Misa-san?" L was almost amused by the idea. Then again, it might have been nice… in another life, of course.

"I-" Footsteps on the other end of the line seemed to stop and ragged breaths became audible even through the receiver. "Can I call you later, Ryuuga-san?"

Apparently, the target had reached her.

This wasn't the time for reminding her that she didn't have his phone number – not this one, let alone the next one, which even he didn't yet know.

"Of course, Misa-san. Take care."

As for the model, she had just left the elevator in her apartment complex, to find Yagami Light waiting for her outside her own door.

Blinking once, twice, Misa tried and almost failed in putting on a casual expression.

"Light…kun?" She could almost feel her heart pounding in her throat. This was sudden and unexpected and… somewhat disturbing as well.

"Misa, are you all right?" The countenance of perfectly gentle concern had been so carefully cultivated that, had Misa not known a bit better by now, she wouldn't have doubted that it was crafted by love. "You looked dreadful back then, so, well…" Just the hint of a shrug, nonchalant and almost innocent. "You made me worried, that's all."

The model didn't really know what to say to that; she looked away rather bashfully, searching for words. She had no idea what to say. "O-oh. Would you like to come in?" she asked after a moment, realizing that she was being both impolite and impractical.

If there was a hint of a smile on his deceitfully sincere face, it shone all the brighter. "Actually, I was hoping you would come and have tea with me." As he categorized all people, Light was still fully aware of Misa's likes and dislikes along with every other aspect of her personality.

The recent development had been surprising, but not entirely against his plans (fortunately).

"What about Kiyomi-chan?" Misa squinted a bit, despite knowing that such a look from her could hardly be considered menacing. In any case, she wanted to go, if only to find out what all this was about. She dreaded it all the same, of course, but it was a chance.

"We might not be dating, but I still consider you a dear friend, Misa." That was the one thing that gave it away at least part of the truth; he had never shown any desire to treat her as a friend before, knowing she would never be satisfied with just that. "I was hoping we would have a cordial relationship even now… is that to much to hope for?"

"No! No, certainly not!"

Part of her still loved him. Part of her still admired Kira. But irrefutably present was also the presence in her mind that reminded her of the coldness of his eyes when he had dumped her, how harshly he had treated her and how easily he could judge based on outward appearances. On first impressions.

And if she could be so easily judged, couldn't others as well?

"I'll just go get my purse and we can go."

Misa disappeared in her apartment just for a minute or so, searching for the items she needed to take. Aside from money, her keys and the necessary lip gloss, she grabbed the only thing she really needed; a small black notebook, which she stuffed into a magazine to make it invisible to the casual viewer.

And, naturally, a thin blue pen.

o.O.o

"Are you ill?"

Light's eyes were fixed on her face and remained so even while Misa attempted to pretend her cup of tea was much too interesting to be ignored.

It wasn't that the café itself wasn't nice; it was a small establishment not too far from her apartment complex, with nice furniture and a pleasing menu. She didn't go there often, since her busy schedule didn't allow it, but the herbal tea she was having even now was something not easily forgotten.

"No, no, I feel much better now, it was probably just something I ate." She was lying, of course, and she had the horrid feeling that Light could tell, despite her attempt at acting.

"Trying to alter your menu once the lifestyle got changed, you mean?" Indulgent smile in place, Misa got the feeling he was really laughing at her through some measure of irritation.

The best way to avoid panic, in her experience, was not acknowledging the source of her fear. That was how one overcame stage fright as well, if they weren't professionals like her.

Instead, she simply shrugged. "Maybe. But Misa has the sneaking suspicion that it might have been the shortcake Ryuuga-san made me eat. Misa lost a bet." For good measure, she giggled.

"About what?" Light tilted his head with too much interest for comfort.

"Oh, nothing important." The bet had actually never actually been spoken out loud – she had intended to wait longer for that, meaning after she was certain of her victory – but the blonde had made a bet with herself about how things were going to end. "Misa lost, which is what counts."

"I suppose. You and Ryuuga are turning out to be good friends." There was no bitterness in the suggestion; it was only a statement. An observation not difficult to make.

"Well, yes… yes." Misa was getting a bit edgy now, since she had no idea where this was going. Disregarding the fact that Light was much smarter than her, she had thought she could at least see where he wanted to get her with this. she couldn't even see the point of this, so she said the truth. "Ryuuga-san makes Misa laugh. Ryuuga-san is…" _Wicked wretched liar liar liar the only one who sees you as a human being and not a vapid little fluffhead _"He is an interesting person."

"He certainly is intelligent."

"Of course!" Misa nodded vigorously, but she felt as of she was simply repeating what was quite clear. "It was obvious he was going to get the internship along with Light-kun!"

"Yes, obvious… though perhaps for a different reason."

The blonde felt herself wince, but tried not to let it show. There was not yet cause for panic; if Light thought she was going to slip simply because he was trying to make her, and so plainly as well.

"Huh?" If Light still believed her to be stupid, she could likely get away with acting dumb just this once, even if it felt ridiculous even to her. "I don't… Misa doesn't know what Light-kun means."

Her ex-boyfriend's expression hardened slightly. He put his elbows on the table, gently allowing his feelings to entwine in a business-like expression. For once, even Misa wasn't able to discern if this was an act or not, but then again, she had only lately begun to see deceit in his manners.

"Misa, I underestimated you once, for certain." Whether he considered this a failing of his own, a mistake in his calculations or an unexpected development he couldn't have anticipated, no one could tell. But at least it appeared he was taking her seriously now. "I was wrong about you; completely and utterly."

Unexpectedly, Misa didn't rejoice in this fact much. Her greatest advantage had just been stripped away from her.

"Ah, thank you, I guess?"

"You aren't conventional, but you have exceeded my expectations." In all the wrong ways, it seemed. His smile contained just a hint of cunning and perhaps pride. "I never thought that you would be the type to accept the Eyes."

This time, Misa couldn't keep herself from cringing. She had expected tricks, wordplay… but certainly not Light outright saying this. it wasn't an admission, certainly, but it was enough for Misa to guess that playtime was almost over. Since she didn't have the subtlety to keep up with mind-games, she decided that it might be better for her to outright admitted things.

"Your movements show that you don't."

She, too, decided to make something out of this and get confirmation of her own. She _had_ gotten a little wiser, a little more mature and a little slyer after all this time.

The bad thing was, Light realized that.

"Despite my resources and abilities, I remain mortal. I cannot afford to sacrifice any of my time for the sake of a tool, no matter how useful. And now that I found you, I might not need to."

He was admitting it, in subtler words.

Misa knew she had to be careful, otherwise her own tendency to be a blabbermouth would implicate her. besides, for all she knew, this conversation was a carefully veiled attempt to implicate her. Maybe they even weren't alone here. If spending all this time with L taught her anything, it was that there were ways to see if someone was around and to say something without saying anything at all.

"What gave Misa away?"

"As I have said, you aren't conventional, Misa… or subtle." Somehow, the way he said it, Misa felt as if she was being insulted. Nevertheless, Light went on. "I believe you made the trade only recently, based on your reaction today. And, of course, you immediately knew what I was talking about." He gave her a smile that was the very essence of a predator having successfully pinned down its prey.

It gave Misa the shivers, far more than L's pervert tendencies did. There was just something… inhuman… about it.

"Light-kun is smarter than Misa." She could admit that easily, because no matter what would happen between them, that was the truth. "Denying anything would likely only prolong the inevitable. Besides, Misa…" The one thing he didn't know about her was what side she was on. He assumed, that was all. "Misa supports divine justice."

The expression softened to the point where it could be sympathetic if Light so willed it. Moving one triumph at a time, or so he believed. He was so certain of himself, so without doubt, Misa couldn't help feel bad about herself. Certainly, Light was brilliant, but perhaps she had indeed been transparent and silly, a cardboard cutout of a person.

Today was about proving to them both how she had changed. And the best way to do that was keep him thinking that she was the same as ever.

"I had hoped that would be the case." Hoped was the wrong word; he was _counting _on it. "Especially considering that you might prove to be my prophet."

Perhaps that was too strong a word – he needed an instrument, an acolyte, a devotee – not a representative (and if he ever would, there were better candidates, despite the advantages Misa would bring to that post). He wanted the Eyes and if there was a chance of getting them so easily, refusing the gift the gods had bestowed upon him was out of the question.

"You want Misa to help you?"

Maybe she was actually getting it, the stupid little thing, but there were still nails needed to be driven into this coffin. Someone like Misa had the feeling they needed to be universally liked and remain the center of attention. So long as she was convinced that her presence was necessary for his plans to succeed, she would help out of a sense of self-importance.

"It would be selfish of me to ask that for my own sake." If it was for the sake of the new world, there was no reason for anything to be considered selfish. "I offer you the chance to further what you believe in while avenging yourself at the same time."

"Misa doesn't really…"

"Don't turn around or move." Light said, more softly than before. He kept his eyes on Misa's face, unnervingly so, despite the overall pleasantness of his tone and expression. "At a table several meters away from us is one of those meant to tail each of us. It is likely that there will be cameras installed into your own home very soon. You see… he doesn't really trust any of us." Of course, this was too reason. "Though you seemed to have been singled out with the… dubious privilege… of being given the chance to spend the most time with him."

That was the one thing that bothered Light most. Certainly, Misa had some value as a pawn even before things had turned this complicated, but not sufficient for L to be spending nearly all his time shadowing her, even seemingly befriending her. and that Misa, of all people, was reciprocating this silliness until the very last moment…

It was a transparent attempt to take away a potential tool of his, but now, he was forced to consider if perhaps a sign that L knew more about his activities than he let on.

And then that idiot Misa just had to freak out at the moment when he had succeeded in providing some evidence of his innocence. Putting the whole blame on Misa would only put him into a suspicious light, since L wouldn't ever believe that someone as empty-headed as her could have hidden from him for so long.

But he _could_ use her as a diversion that would temporarily throw them all off track.

For a moment, he had to consider the ridiculous possibility that L had forsaken an ulterior motive in favor of merely spending time with Misa. The idea went as fast as it came, though; for someone who he despised yet respected (a rare privilege he didn't grant just anyone… or, rather, anyone apart from his adversary) to seek out the company of someone as useless and narrow-minded as her (because if there ever was anyone embodying everything he considered empty, it was her)…

Laughable. Even more than that; of course he could understand opposites attracting, but the combination of these two was too vile to even imagine.

"I knew him capable of bending or breaking any rule or law to corner his target, but to use you as a pawn is going further than I had thought."

The blonde frowned, which was a good sign; she was beginning to understand his point of view. Now it was time to make her not accept it, but adapt it as her own.

"Misa _was_ angry when she found out… but everything started to make sense, then." She seemed to be thinking out loud, still glancing at her hands and frowning prettily. "That was why I got the internship."

"Perhaps, but he underestimated you as well." Now it was time to lay out the plan. She was someone on whom subtlety was wasted. Plain words would be faster. "With the Eyes, you saw his name as well as those of all the others in the room. With the name in your possession, having seen his face and my confirmation that he is the one that must be eliminated – that he is L – our victory is assured."

The blonde's eyes widened at these words. Perhaps there was indeed a brain in her head instead of just air, since she seemed to understand his intentions quite clearly. Fortunately, the man tailing them wasn't able to see her face; Misa wore her heart on her sleeve, ridiculously so.

"You want me to-?"

"I don't want to force you into anything, Misa." While rather gullible and eager to follow, Light doubted that she would be willing to kill purely for ideals. "I understand fully that using the notebook is something that requires a certain… sacrifice of innocence, so to speak. If you were to give me his name, I am fully prepared to deal with L myself. I require knowledge above all else. But I was intending to leave the honor to you, so that you may have your revenge personally."

"But… he hasn't committed any crime."

That was a weak and unjustified protest. Even for Misa, that was a poor argument. Also, quite out of character for an enthusiastic Kira worshipper she was supposed to be. nevertheless, that could be attributed to the jitters the revelation and the deed asked of her had brought on. It was an explanation Light was willing to accept for the time being.

"Those that try to stop the hands of justice are supporters of the corrupt system. He is the only one that can be considered a true threat to efforts to reform it. And he won't be swayed, Misa." If he wanted allies, he wouldn't have looked further. However… "Believe me, if there was any chance of having him on our side, I wouldn't hesitate a moment. Alas, the only alternative is what I am proposing."

"Misa… Misa understands."

And she did.

She understood that he would never understand.

"Don't you see, Misa?" This time, he grabbed her hands, but only briefly, so that the gesture wouldn't seem romantic in any way. However, it was persuasive, which was what counted at this point. "Kira can bring justice to this world. And with you as my eyes, we can do this together."

Misa paused, considering this. "Just the two of us?"

"Yes, Misa. Together, no one will be able to stop us."

For one single glorious moment, Misa could see it all. Her as goddess, the happy ending they both deserved, the recognition she would receive and the love she would inspire. However, she remembered the expression his eyes had shown. Once she could read them, partly thanks to her time with L, partly thanks to her own journey, things had changed.

She decided that she could no longer trust anyone besides herself as far as good judgment was concerned. A lawyer, a detective, even a public representative (if someone like her could be considered that) needed to put others before themselves.

"Misa will do it."

"So you will give me the name?" Light didn't want to seem eager in any way, but getting this close to the final step was certainly gratifying.

"No."

For an instant, his eyes sharpened. But Misa turned to take her purse and proceeded to excuse herself to the bathroom in a rather unorthodox way.

"Misa will do it herself."

She couldn't quite do it in plain view of a potential enemy. Besides, she didn't really want Light to see what she was about to do.

The toilets were rather empty, but she still didn't want anyone to see. Better that no one else saw.

She locked herself in the stall and sat down on the toilet. Only there did she turn to rummage through her bag and took out a pen and what seemed to be an ordinary magazine. She flipped through it as naturally as if she did this every day and put on a smile that oozed all the confidence in the matter she lacked.

She could do this. It was the right thing. Perhaps it wouldn't make her happy, perhaps the world wouldn't be better off this way, but…

…but she would do it nonetheless.

"Misa… I can do it for you, if you like."

"Thank you, Rem." Misa raised her pen, gripping it almost tightly enough to break it. At least it didn't shake in her frail hand. "But… Misa… I have to do this myself. For myself."

And, with that in mind, she began writing.


	13. Chapter 13

Apologies for the huge gap – I finally have time to continue my fanfic writing. If anyone still wants to see this story continued, please review/PM me and I will go on writing the story with the most support.


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